Wave of resignations: the justice system has lost 550 employees in one year

Nearly 550 Justice employees in Quebec have resigned in the past year, reveal figures obtained by The newspaperwhich demonstrate that the trend has been accelerating since 2019.

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“It lacks resources,” repeat almost every day judges forced to postpone criminal cases because of the lack of support staff.

Eyes in tears, a Crown prosecutor explains that “those who remain can’t take it anymore”.

Office workers who accumulate years of expertise speak openly of their resignation as soon as they are hired elsewhere with a much more advantageous salary.

These cases, which have occurred in recent days, are far from unique. Since 2019, 1,126 Department of Justice employees have left their jobs, while another 293 have been transferred elsewhere in the state. In the past year, 541 have resigned, while there have been 133 transfers.

These figures include judicial assistants, court clerks, court ushers, paralegals and even a handful of articling students.

Everywhere in Quebec

If the exodus is particularly marked in Montreal, with 419 voluntary departures in three years, the phenomenon affects all of Quebec, from the Outaouais to the North Shore via Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

The crisis is such that the players in the community speak openly of a “system on the verge of collapse”.

In 2019, the chief justices of the various courts were already alerting the ministry to problems attracting and retaining support staff, but no pilot project put in place has worked.

“We know that to date, no initiative has made it possible to counter the large number of departures of assistants and to alleviate the problems of recruitment”, however affirmed the chief judge of the Court of Quebec, Lucie Rondeau, in a letter to his troops.

Opposition parties are urging Quebec to act quickly to stem the bleeding.

Demands

Because far from improving, the situation has only worsened, causing the defendants to begin to demand their release, for lack of being able to appear before a judge within the time limits imposed by law.

This is the case of a Montrealer accused of possession of a prohibited weapon, who wanted to have a bail hearing in three days, as provided for in the Criminal Code. Two pimps who waited for their hearing for four weeks are demanding a halt to the proceedings.

Added to this is a strike by legal aid lawyers, who are demanding salary conditions similar to those of Crown prosecutors.

Lawyers in private practice, for their part, voted Monday in favor of pressure tactics to improve legal fees, which are so low that they often end up working below minimum wage.

• Northern Quebec 2
• Centre-du-Quebec 14
• North Coast 14
• Mauricie 14
• Saguenay 15
• Gaspesie 18
• Chaudiere-Appalaches 26
• Laval 28
• Lower St. Lawrence 30
• Estrie 30
• Lanaudiere 31
• Laurentians 60
• Abitibi-Temiscamingue 65
• Outaouais 74
• Monteregie 108
• National Capital 178
• Montreal 419

^{Source: Government of Quebec, credit study, 2022}

MAIN POSITIONS AFFECTED SINCE 2019

• Judicial assistants 159
• Ushers 109
• Clerks 200
• Law technicians 146
• office workers 337