Dealing now with increasing judicial dangers

For years, the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys (“MACA”) has been engaged in a dispute with the Manitoba government over the workload of its lawyers. That dispute is expected to come to a head at the end of November, when two weeks of grievance hearings are scheduled.

We remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement with our employer. But if we cannot, our union’s lawyers are prepared to make our case. As those hearings approach, we want to explain how we got here, what is at stake, and why this dispute matters beyond the working conditions of our members.

These problems are longstanding and predate the election of Manitoba’s current government. Our concern with the current government is not that it created these problems, but that it is now responsible for addressing them.

Despite the evidence before it, the government has not meaningfully addressed the workload concerns we have raised throughout its time in office.

And put bluntly, the government already has compelling evidence of the problem.

In 2023, the Manitoba government partnered with MACA on a survey of employees in the Manitoba Prosecution Service and the Legal Services Branch, commonly referred to as the Kitt Report. The survey included prosecutors, civil lawyers, and support staff in both branches. Its findings were troubling across the organization, but particularly stark among prosecutors: 63 per cent reported experiencing burnout.

The Kitt Report was intended to provide a roadmap for improving working conditions in prosecution services and legal services. The report called for changes to workplace culture that focused on staff well-being, but it went beyond changing the department’s self-conception.

As the report itself concluded, it is impossible to meaningfully address burnout without confronting two of the highest-rated stressors across all four employee groups: workload and staff shortages.

The Kitt Report specifically called for additional prosecutorial positions. That recommendation has not been implemented. And the report was clear about the consequences of failing to address staffing: without additional staff, there should be “little optimism that individual or organizational health will increase.”

That conclusion matters not only to prosecutors. It matters to the public.

The operation of the criminal justice system is regularly the subject of public criticism and debate. We have consistently said that those conversations should be informed by an understanding of how the system functions and grounded in the shared Canadian values that underpin it.

The justice system is not beyond criticism. But meaningful reform requires an honest understanding of the pressures under which it operates.

That is why we have increasingly spoken publicly about the under-resourcing of the criminal justice system, not simply because it affects our members, but because it affects the system they are responsible for administering.

The upcoming grievance hearing is, first and foremost, a legal process through which we seek improvements to our members’ working conditions. But the evidence presented at that hearing may also give Manitobans an important window into how their criminal justice system actually operates.

The public will hear directly from prosecutors about the pressures created by excessive workloads.

They will hear how those workloads affect the time available to manage and prepare cases, and the difficult decisions prosecutors must make in determining how to best allocate scarce resources. They will hear how changes in the law have made the prosecution of complex cases, including sexual assaults, increasingly demanding, while prosecutors must also comply with strict timelines established by the Supreme Court of Canada.

And they will hear how resource shortages can require junior prosecutors to assume responsibility for serious cases earlier in their careers, with fewer opportunities to learn from experienced colleagues.

These are not abstract workplace concerns. They have consequences for the people who work in the justice system, for those who come before it, and for the public’s confidence in its proper administration.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara recently told reporters, “We’re unapologetically a government that supports labour.” Justice Minister Matt Wiebe has similarly praised Crown Attorneys, saying he has met “great folks” who are “doing amazing work day in and day out,” who “work very, very hard,” and who do that work “for the right reasons.”

We appreciate those words. But recognition of the work Crown Attorneys perform must ultimately be matched by the resources necessary to perform it properly.

The government’s own report identified the problem. Prosecutors have been raising it for years. The upcoming hearing will provide an opportunity for that evidence to be heard.

But the evidence is already clear. We remain hopeful that it will not take a hearing to produce a solution.

Ben Wickstrom is vice president (prosecutions) for the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys and has been a prosecutor for nearly eight years. He previously worked in public policy for the provincial government.