Saskatchewan Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Bronwyn Eyre, centre, is pictured with Ryan Domotor, MLA Cut Knife-Turtleford, left, and Lloydminster MLA Colleen Young, right outside the Saskatchewan provincial court, which has been re-established as a permanent full-service court. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
The court of public opinion is behind the decision to re-establish the Saskatchewan Provincial Court in Lloydminster as a permanent court with a fully-operational registry.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Bronwyn Eyre, and Lloydminster MLA Colleen Young spoke about the feedback at the courthouse re-opening announcement on Friday—during Access to Justice Week in the province.
“I want to thank you, members of the community, for being outspoken and making your views known after the re-designation of this courthouse as a circuit point only in 2021 when the registry office and staff were removed,” said Eyre.
“It wasn’t in the best interests of the community and we want to be responsive. The re-designation today will improve efficiency.”
Eyre told attendees the re-opening will happen “as soon as possible” and will increase access to justice, speed of justice and significantly decrease travel to north Battleford for citizens and also court staff, judges, lawyers and RCMP officers.
The minister noted prior to 2021, the Lloyd court was processing about 60 percent of the court cases with one judge that North Battleford now processes with four.
She noted Lloydminster also has the highest number of new charges per judge in the province.
“The amount of criminal municipal and rural files that flow through Lloydminster through the Saskatchewan court system is substantial,” said Eyre.
“Lloyd is seeing more crime and more charges laid than ever before.”
The courthouse is already looking to hire five provincial court staff and five deputy sheriffs on a full-time basis to operate the facility where people can once again pay fines and file small claims and other court documentation.
The provincial government will renew the lease on the courthouse for another five years with the registry office open to the public Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lloydminster MLA Colleen Young says her phone and email inbox “blew up” when the court was downsized to a circuit point in 2021 with the complaints all about the need for access to justice for all parties in the system.
“As a province and as a government it is our role to ensure that people do have access to justice and that they are served in the right way,” said Young.
She says re-opening the provincial court will solve a lot of access troubles.
“I think the biggest impact is the general population, especially those that are the most marginalized— they don’t have to travel to North Battleford in order to be served,” said Young.
“That’s really important as well as the RCMP, the prosecutors, the lawyers who have had to spend extra time and money to travel back and forth to North Battleford to do their work.”
Eyre told attendees that up until recently, everyone who was charged in the Maidstone area was being sent to North Battleford despite the fact 25 per cent of the calls to the detachment are coming from the RM of Britannia.
In addition, RCMP were having to travel to North Battleford three-hours-return, to sit in the courtroom.
“Clearly, the RCMP also has to rely on timely and accurate court documents being issued, warrants, probation orders, and release documents which has not been happening,” said Eyre.
She says her ministry is also working with the provincial court on a replacement judge with the retirement of Judge Kim Young.
“The provincial court also wants what is best for justice in the province and I am confident they will help us succeed with that in terms of adequate resources,” said Eyre.
The re-opening event included a tour of the courthouse by Darren Fidler, superintendent of court security who noted the structure of the facility is very sound and has a good flow for security.
He’s also looking forward to hiring the extra full-time sheriffs.
“We’re going to be increasing our security presence here to provide with the courthouse in Lloydminster and the circuit points that go along with it,” said Fidler.
