The City of Grande Prairie is continuing its advocacy to bring a third Justice of the Court of King’s Bench after the second of three positions was filled in January.
According to Mayor Jackie Clayton, the Province of Alberta has indicated Grande Prairie is a community that requires three justices to efficiently serve its residents, and with two of three positions filled, Clayton says the city is heading in the right direction.
“It’s great news to see that we’ve been appointed our second one, we’ve continued to work with the ministry and Solicitor General in regards to getting that third one, but we’re very pleased to see the announcement of the second judge,” she says. “Getting that second judge is a step in the right direction, but we’ll continue to have those conversations.”
Clayton says advocating for the third justice spot has been a significant priority recently, and with support from the Provincial Government, the ultimate decision lies with the folks in Ottawa.
“We’ve, through the province, done regular communication, and letter-writing campaigns, ultimately, the province supports our request for the three judges; however it is a federal decision,” she says. “When we have those opportunities to have conversations with representatives from Ottawa, we indicate the need.”
But what exactly would a third judge mean for Grande Prairie? Clayton says having a third judge could de-clutter the local court system by easing the workload, on top of the simple fact that a local judge would not require any flights or long road trips from the province’s capital.
“First and foremost, there are savings in the sense that the judge lives in our community, they do their judicial work in our local courthouse, as opposed to having a justice fly in and stay for multiple days,” she says. “It also provides continuity of service, having judges that are from the region or familiar with the region creates a more complete court system.”
“Any sort of bottlenecking we can remove from the court system would be favourable to our community.”
Justice Shannon W. Davis is the most recent addition to Grande Prairie’s court system who filled the position on January 27th.
