TORY CRIME BILL TO PUT PRESSURE ON COURTS

The federal government is anticipating a constitutional challenge
over the mandatory minimum sentences it plans to impose as part of
the omnibus crime bill, documents obtained by The Globe and Mail suggest.

A piece of the legislation will require judges to issue minimum
sentences for some drug-related offences, a change that is expected
to dramatically increase the number of people in provincial and
federal prisons.

The change will also ratchet up pressure on the country's courts, as
people who might otherwise plead guilty instead choose a trial to try
to avoid the mandated time behind bars.

Documents tabled in Parliament by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson and
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews earlier this year suggest that
between 80 and 90 per cent of people who would have pleaded guilty to
"serious drug offences" in the past would opt for a trial instead.

The documents refer to Bill S-10, legislation aimed at toughening
sentences for drug offenders that was eventually bundled into the
omnibus crime bill this fall.

"These developments would likely result in more and longer trials,
increased complexity and increased costs for prosecutions," the
documents state.

Jamie Chaffe, president of the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel,
said the added pressure of the omnibus bill will come on the heels of
previous justice legislation that is already straining the system.

"[The system] was struggling at best, and in many places across the
country it is at a point of crisis," Mr. Chaffe said, adding the
increased workload could result in more people having their charges
stayed if it takes too long for their cases to go to trial.

"If the criminal justice system is not funded sufficiently to support
the legislation, we can expect serious public safety consequences," he said.

An estimated 53 new employees would be required to handle the
increased case load at the federal level, according to the government
documents, at an added cost of $35.5-million over five years.

The documents also note that the mandatory minimum sentences for drug
offences could face legal challenges once they become law. "It is
expected that there will be constitutional challenges to these
amendments," the documents state.

Bill Trudell, head of the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence
Lawyers, said that if the mandatory minimum sentences are applied to
people with mental illnesses or drug addictions, lawyers are likely
to raise charter challenges.

"That's a scenario that will emerge but will emerge on case-by-case
basis," he said.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Nicholson said the government isn't worried
about a legal challenge. "Department of Justice officials always
ensure that our legislation is drafted in a manner which will
withstand constitutional scrutiny," Julie Di Mambro wrote in an
e-mail on Monday.

She added the prosecution costs, as estimated by the federal
documents, are included in an estimate of the bill's total cost to
the federal government, which officials have pegged at $78.6-million
over five years.

A Senate committee will begin its examination of the nine-part
legislation in February, and Conservatives have said they hope the
bill will pass in March of 2012.