Courtrooms across Newfoundland and Labrador suddenly shut

Garrett Barry explains the legal implications after major staffing issues in Newfoundland and Labrador's court system force hundreds of cases to be put on hold.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. -- Some of the busiest courtrooms in Newfoundland and Labrador were suddenly shut last week, with little explanation and no immediate relief in sight.

Small claims cases and traffic cases in three of the province’s busiest courthouses have been temporarily suspended. Signage at the Provincial Court in St. John’s suggests the cases have been suspended at that location until at least Dec. 31.

Lawyers were informed of the closures on Friday, in a notice that acknowledged “these challenging times,” but didn’t further explain the cause of the closures.

CTV News sent multiple questions to provincial court staff in Newfoundland and Labrador, those questions were not answered.

Two of the province’s travelling circuit courts — in Baie Verte and in Port aux Basques have also been suspended. Those suspensions will impact criminal defendants, along with traffic and small claims court litigants.

Criminal defendants and court witnesses will have to travel further while those circuit courts are suspended.

Justice Minister Helen Conway-Ottenheimer said in a statement that she met with the Provincial Court’s chief and associate chief judges on Monday but didn’t directly acknowledge the closures except to say the sides would meet again in January to “advance” discussions on access.

“While the courts have full authority over their own scheduling and case management decisions, our new government is committed to an approach that is rooted in communication, collaboration, and partnership with the judiciary,” she said in a statement.

Union head believes staffing to blame

Jerry Earle, president of the NAPE union which represents Sheriff’s Officers in the province, said he believes a staffing shortage among those officers is the cause of the closures.

Earle said Monday that his union wasn’t given advance notice before the court suspensions took effect.

“Frontline sheriffs and other staff may have been able to do something to mitigate this,” he said. “And nobody was given that opportunity.”

Earle said shortages in sheriff’s officers have long been an issue in the province’s justice system. He estimates courts are running on 80 per cent of recommended staffing and had been engaging provincial government officials in a “working group” for at least six months.

“We always talk about judges, lawyers,” he said. “The court cannot function without all those other key pieces.”

“We lose sheriff’s officers continuously to policing, to corrections, out of province. So we have to look at something that will keep sheriffs and recruit sheriffs in this profession, because it’s absolutely essential in the court system.”