Transcript Slide 1

Provincial Court of British Columbia
Surrey Board of Trade Committee Meeting
September 5, 2012
Surrey Provincial Court – Courtroom 1, circa 1970
5
Canada’s Courts
e.g., the Provincial Court of BC
Source: http://www.cjc-ccm.gc.ca/
British Columbia’s Court System
British Columbia Court of Appeal
Rules on the “correctness” of judgments from the BC Supreme Court & the Provincial Court of BC
15 judges – X cases/year
British Columbia Supreme Court
Trial Court and can hear appeals from the Provincial Court of BC
The most serious criminal cases (by judge or judge and jury)
Civil cases over $25,000 (by judge or judge and jury)
Family (divorce, separation, custody, support payments, family property)
106 judges – approx. 62,000 cases/year
Provincial Court of British Columbia
Trial court and statutory court created by the Provincial Court Act
All criminal offences except a few in which the Supreme Court has jurisdiction (murder, treason, piracy,
alarming Her Majesty), hears roughly 98% of criminal cases in the province
Family (child protection, maintenance, custody, guardianship and access)
Civil (monetary limit of $25,000)
Approximately 127 judges – over 140,000 cases/year
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Judges of the Provincial Court
The appointment process
Terms of appointment
Judicial Accountability
Reasons for Judgment
Appellate Review
Authority of the Chief Judge
Discipline Process
Complaints – 2004 to March 31, 2011
Letters received
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
118
174
144
258
216
245
280
93
Non-complaints (those found not to be
within Section 11)
Examinations of complaints performed
to March 31, 2011 as summarized
below or in previous Annual Reports
95
137
123
205
169
207
225
82
* 20
* 34
19
* 53
* 45
* 35
* 29
*8
Investigations of complaints performed
* 3
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
2
3
* 19
* 28
Files unresolved by April 1, 2011
* indicates that an examination may have dealt with more than one letter received from a
complainant
Innovations in the Provincial Court of British Columbia
• Downtown Community Court
•Victoria Integrated Court
•First Nations Court
•Drug Treatment Court
•Domestic Violence Court Project
Questions?