Introduction to the New Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of BC

by The Honourable Chief Judge Hugh C Stansfield

I was asked by BarTalk Senior Editor, Caroline Nevin, to introduce myself as the new Chief Judge of the Provincial Court, as a follow-up to my predecessor, the Honourable Carol Baird Ellan’s “Reflections on an Eventful Term” in the June 2005 issue.

At the recent ceremony in which I was welcomed as Chief Judge, your CBABC Branch president, Michael Woodward, was one of the distinguished speakers. He hearkened back to my university days as a Keg waiter and recommended I reclaim “Hi, my name’s Hugh, etc.” as my greeting of choice as Chief Judge. Hmmm…

Perhaps instead I’ll begin with the basic bio: I am 52 years old, born and raised in Vancouver, and called to the B.C. Bar in 1980, after UBC. Law. My early practice involved provincial court criminal, juvenile (as it then was) and child protection work; the last nine years I practised in a large commercial firm, primarily in civil litigation.

I was appointed to the Provincial Court bench in May 1993, initially at Robson Square, and then transferred to Okanagan District (Kelowna) in 1994 where I remained until beginning this new position July 1, 2005.

I expect some might wonder what are the duties of a Chief Judge of the Provincial Court. She or he:

1. oversees the administration of a somewhat complex institution involving 88 court locations, 150 judges, 34 judicial justices of the peace, and numerous other administrative staff;
2. assigns judicial duties;
3. as Chair of the Judicial Council oversees judicial discipline and the process which leads to approval for eligibility for judicial appointment;
4. is said to be the “face of the court” with the Bar, the other courts, with government, and with the general public and media; and
5. promotes institutional reform.

This is a particularly exciting time in our Court, as we build upon a tradition of leadership, nationally and internationally, in innovative processes. An early notable example was the introduction of judicially facilitated civil settlement conferences – one of the first times in Canada that judges got down from their benches and met directly with litigants to facilitate collaborative dispute resolution. The Court then introduced mandatory family case conferencing, with the result that custody and access trials are relatively uncommon, and literally thousands of children have been the “winners.”

Current challenges I face as Chief Judge include:

1. establishing processes through which there can be continued “just, speedy, inexpensive and simple” resolution of civil disputes as the monetary jurisdiction increases to $25,000 on September 1, 2005, and hopefully within the foreseeable future, to the legislated limit of $50,000;
2. the pending report of the Street Crime Working Group regarding integrated justice and health system responses to chronic offenders and persons with addictions;
3. the recently introduced report of the Justice Reform Working Group, with its provocative re-commendations regarding the expansion of collaborative processes and the rationalization of our constitutionally driven two-pronged system;
4. reversing the decline in public confidence in the justice system, a trend which threatens the underpinnings of the justice system we know and the rule of law itself.

In all of this, I look forward to continuing our collegial relationship with the Bar.

Hugh C Stansfield, Chief Judge, Provincial Court of British Columbia

This article was published in the August 2005 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.