BarTalk April 2001
Volume 13, Number 2

Criminal Caseflow Management Rules

A message from the Honourable Chief Judge Carol Baird Ellan

The Notice to Profession, Criminal Caseflow Management Rules: Review Phase, was issued on February 12, 2001, to signal the April 1, 2001 commencement of the formal review phase for the Criminal Caseflow Management Rules in Provincial Court. Associate Chief Judge A.J. Spence will oversee this review. Chief Judge Baird Ellan and Judge Spence both spoke briefly about the review at the March 10 Provincial Council meeting.

As outlined in the notice, the review will entail a series of meetings of interested parties in the provincial administrative districts, in order of their Rules implementation dates. This will enable districts with recent implementation dates to operate under the Rules for a time, before undergoing review. In addition to the meeting schedule, interested parties may file written submissions.

The purpose of Caseflow Management is not to coerce guilty pleas but rather encourage earlier resolution of matters that would have resolved in any event. Experience shows that this encouragement is more effective if driven by Court involvement, and law dictates that the Court has a duty to effectively administer its process.

Monitoring results gathered by the Office of the Chief Judge and the Ministry of the Attorney General since Rules implementation indicate a remarkable reduction in the number of cases that are set for trial unnecessarily, up to 50 per cent in some places. Backlogs in some regions have declined. Many judges report more orderly trial dates, with fewer matters collapsing unexpectedly. At the same time, the overall numbers for guilty pleas and trials proceeding have remained relatively constant.

These gains cannot be expected to happen in the absence of some upheaval. It is important to the Court that they not occur at the expense of fairness to defendants, or to their counsel. The Court recognizes the need to assess these apparent gains to the system and measure them against losses, if any. The review process is intended to identify, first, adjustments or scheduling changes that need to be made, and then, ways in which the Rules or process can be substantively improved upon.

The Court acknowledges the cooperative and communicative approach to the Rules taken by bar members through the implementation phase. We are hopeful that this spirit of cooperation and communication will continue throughout the review, with a view to a realistic assessment of the process over the next year.

Rules Online
The Criminal Caseflow Management Rules are available for viewing at www.provincialcourt.bc.ca. Select “Rules of Court” and then select the “Criminal Rules of Court” to view the Rules.

This article was published in the April 2001 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.