Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham says “it’s clearly not acceptable” for criminal cases to be tossed from the court system because of trial delays.

Wakeham was responding to a CBC Investigates report which found that at least 24 people in the province walked away free over the last year and a half, after so-called Jordan applications were filed.

“None of us would want to see that kind of delays in our justice system that cause that kind of thing to happen,” Wakeham told reporters Wednesday, following government’s announcement declaring gender-based violence an epidemic.

“And as we have said before, and we’ll continue to say, we have to do better.”

And how will they do better?

Wakeham pointed to ongoing work to improve the struggling court system, which has been beset by closures and delays.

The recent provincial budget announced plans for more police, prosecutors, judges, and court staff.

Later in the afternoon, Justice Minister Helen Conway Ottenheimer told reporters that her department will begin to compile data on Jordan cases in the province.

“We want to ensure that we’re tracking and we’re analyzing this going forward, so that we can make improvements and see if the improvements and the investments that we’re making are effective,” she said.

Conway Ottenheimer did not give a timeline for when information might be made public.

But she stressed the importance of that work, referencing the recent findings of a group assembled to review pressures in the court system.

“We have a justice system that really has been in decline for many years,” Conway Ottenheimer said.

“And I would perhaps even suggest that the reason it has been in decline is because there hasn’t been any analysis, hasn’t been any systemic tracking.”

The minister acknowledged the impact that trial delays can have on the people involved.

“I feel that is a failure of the system, quite frankly,” she said.

“When their cases are not being decided on the merits, that impacts the victims, that impacts anyone who’s involved in the case. And really it’s not acceptable.”

The Supreme Court of Canada’s R v Jordan decision set timelines for trials to be completed from the time charges are laid — 18 months in provincial courts, and 30 months in superior courts. Anything longer than that is presumed to be unreasonable, unless those delays can be attributed to the defence or exceptional circumstances.

Justice officials in Newfoundland and Labrador have repeatedly said they cannot provide statistics on charges affected by Jordan timelines, only the current number of applications before the courts.

So, CBC Investigates set out to determine how many cases in the province have been impacted.

Those efforts show that over the past year and a half at least 24 people had their charges stayed, dismissed, or withdrawn, after the Jordan timelines had been breached.

The Crown was successful in having at least a dozen Jordan applications dismissed — four of them in sexual assault cases — after contested hearings.

In a half dozen other cases, the Crown and defence cut a plea deal.

On top of all those, there were even more Jordan applications filed that were never heard. 

CBC Investigates found 10 cases where those applications became moot when the charges didn’t proceed for other reasons — such as key evidence being thrown out — or the accused being found not guilty at trial.