A judge has been forced to apologize to an 87-year-old senior victim of a violent robbery, after being forced to postpone the accused's trial due to a lack of court clerks.

• Read also: Small claims: delays have tripled since the arrival of the CAQ

• Read also: Delays, postponements and lack of accessibility: an “unacceptable” situation in courthouses

" I am really sorry. This is a matter of court administration over which a judge has no power. I wanted to offer you my deep apologies on behalf of the system for wasting your time,” Judge Manlio Del Negro said yesterday at the Montreal courthouse.

In front of him was Ana Tarcenco, victim of a robbery in 2019, where she allegedly suffered a serious shoulder injury in addition to being subsequently defrauded. She was due to testify at the defendant's trial yesterday, but everything was canceled because no clerk was available.

“I had a lot of pain, I still have nightmares,” she told the Journal yesterday, hoping that her case will at least help push the government to fix the problem.

Three other civilian witnesses who had traveled to court had to return home pending a summons at a later date. A policeman also wasted his time at the courthouse instead of patrolling.

“We are not sure that the situation will be different tomorrow,” the judge told them, apologizing for having to cancel the two-day trial.

Counting the judge, the lawyers, a bailiff, a special constable, an investigator and an interpreter, it is therefore 12 people who wasted their time in court.

Not the only case

For several months, many courtrooms have been opening late due to lack of court support staff.

Last fall, Le Journal had already lifted the veil on the worrying situation of staff shortages at court.

Two weeks ago, six rooms in Montreal were closed for part of the morning because no clerk was available.

According to our information, practically every day, one or two rooms open late for this reason. When the room opens.

Thus, on Wednesday, a fraudster was able to return home rather than go to prison. And this week, a victim of pimping was to testify in court, but the courtroom remained closed for lack of an available clerk, according to what Le Journal has learned.

"The clerk is the assistant who settles all the administrative aspects of the court," explained Judge Del Negro, making it clear that, without her presence, it is impossible to proceed.

"Catastrophe"

Sentences have also had to be postponed in recent months. A lawyer described the situation as “aberrant” while another considers that it is simply “inadmissible” to have to postpone files for purely administrative reasons.

"For the discontinued trials [qui s'étint sur des dates espacetes, NDLR], it's catastrophic", for his part declared Me Jean-Christofe Ardeneus, of the Crown, addressing the court.

If the situation does not improve, justice is heading straight into a wall, worry many stakeholders in the justice system.

The lack of court support staff is undermining the justice system, which is trying to fill dozens of vacant positions in Montreal alone.

Thirteen clerks who have left their jobs since January, and dozens more in the past year. Twelve special constables have announced their departure just in the last month, so that despite the presence of criminals in courthouses, there is sometimes no one to ensure public safety in certain corridors.

Court ushers are on their last legs, covering several rooms at the same time, while demoralized assistant judges are resigning, as are those who assist Crown prosecutors.

And that's not counting the 65 office worker positions to be regularized at the Montreal Regional Justice Services Department, the Civil Rolls and Judgments Service and the Professions Tribunal, according to a document obtained by Le Journal .

“The main problem is one of attractiveness, confided a speaker from the judicial system on condition of anonymity. Everyone goes to the federal, private or even municipal, because the remuneration is much more attractive. »

Posters everywhere

A sign that the Department of Justice is struggling to fill vacant positions, several posters have recently been scattered throughout the building on rue Notre-Dame to encourage visitors to apply.

But in the meantime, lawyers fear a "Jordan 2.0", that is to say a new wave of stays of proceedings due to unreasonable delays. Because more and more cases are postponed due to lack of staff, sometimes for several months.

Three times longer

And things are no rosier at the Small Claims Division of the Court of Quebec. This week, our Bureau of Investigation revealed that delays had tripled since the CAQ came to power.

Obtaining a hearing now takes an average of 593 days in Quebec, compared to 223 days in 2018, even if the number of requests has decreased. A citizen even waited 2,000 days for a case that was decided in three minutes.