Provincial legislators gave the nod to the Justice Statutes Amendment Act Dec. 14, which amends a number of pieces of legislation to allow for the electronic transfer of certified family support documents between reciprocating Canadian jurisdictions; ensures a trust does not fail if there is temporarily no trustee and removes the transfer of trust property to the court; and enables training of legislative assembly security personnel as peace officers so they can carry firearms, among other changes.
And one aspect of the legislation which is drawing particular scrutiny is language which would allow government to increase the civil claim limit that can be filed through provincial court from the current limit of $50,000 up to a maximum of $200,000, while maintaining the existing option for someone to pursue a claim in the Court of King's Bench if they so choose.
The province is saying the move will reduce pressure on courts and enable more Albertans to file small claims at the provincial level, with Provincial Court Chief Judge Derek Redman saying it will “enhance the court’s ability to fulfil its mission to provide fair, accessible and timely justice for Albertans.”
Anna Lund, University of Alberta
“There is sort of a very specific balance of power struck where provincial governments get to handle administration of justice in superior courts, but the feds get to appoint and remove superior court justices,” she said. “And so, the concern the Supreme Court had was that we don’t want the provinces to set up prohibited parallel courts. There was some suspicion that what Quebec was trying to set up a court system where they got to appoint the judges and that had really wide-ranging jurisdiction that took a lot of jurisdiction away from superior courts.”
But Lund noted that the situation in Alberta is somewhat different, as Quebec was trying to grant exclusive jurisdiction to its provincial court of any civil matter up to $85,000, whereas Alberta still retains the ability to be heard by the superior court.
“And the Supreme Court said there was no evidence of a compelling societal objective being fulfilled by Quebec’s move, other than setting up this prohibited parallel court. So, if Alberta can prove a compelling justice reason to increase the jurisdiction of the inferior court then it may give them a little more leeway,” she said. “But does that mean they can increase the jurisdiction to $200,000? I don’t know, because of course it is much more than the $85,000 that was struck down in the Quebec case.”
In addition to the administrative changes Alberta has also announced a revamp of its policing legislation, which has not seen a major overhaul in over 34 years. The Police Amendment Act would establish an independent agency, the Police Review Commission, to handle complaints against the police. The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) would come under the auspices of the commission and will continue to handle all cases involving death or serious injuries, as well as so-called “serious and sensitive” allegations with a newly formed investigations unit handling all other misconduct complaints involving police officers employed by municipal police services and First Nations police services. The legislation also establishes formal civilian bodies for all Alberta jurisdictions policed by the RCMP.
Public Safety Minister Mike Ellis said that police should have a strong connection to their community “functioning as a police service that is an extension of the people it serves rather than a strong arm of the government.”
“This first major update to the Police Act in generations is a blueprint for building police services in Alberta that embody that principle, with reforms that strengthen accountability, give communities more input and promote diversity,” he said.
Under the new legislation, the public safety minister will be able to set provincial policing priorities aimed at fostering consistency in policing across Alberta, require police commissions to create their own policing priorities that consider the provincial priorities and report annually on their progress, and set eight guiding principles for Alberta police services to follow, including ensuring police services strive to reflect the pluralistic character of society and the communities they serve and saying it is desirable that policing services be provided in a manner that recognizes the history and cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.
Lisa Silver, University of Calgary
“What I am seeing throughout this whole bill is provincial control over policing,” she said. “The police review commission is going to be entirely provincial appointments, and the other commissions are going to have a number of them based on calculations the province has worked out. And they are going to have to align their priorities with the government and report on that, so independence is kind of lost.”
Silver said the public was concerned the police were investigating themselves, and she feels that will still be the case even if the legislation comes into force.
“Ontario has an independent police review director who is responsible for receiving and overseeing all public complaints about police and is completely independent from the government — it does have to report to them, but it is at arm’s length,” she said. “I just don’t see that here with the Alberta police review commission.”
The Police Amendment Act remains before the Alberta legislature.
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