A plea from the City of Weyburn and the Weyburn Police Commission to the justice minister to address concerns about how Weyburn provincial court is run may have fallen on deaf ears.

The police commission, along with city council, sent a letter signed by Mayor Don Schlosser on Sept. 25 to Justice Minister Chris Axworthy detailing a number of concerns arising from provincial court, ranging from how light some sentences have been to the lack of consistency in who the sitting judge is.

At the centre of the complaint is the lack of a consistent sitting judge for Weyburn, as the judges have been coming from Regina for the past several months, and from Moose Jaw and Regina since Moose Jaw took over as the administrative centre for Weyburn provincial court on Sept. 1. In that five-week time span, there have been four different judges.

Weyburn officially has a resident judge, however, so a new resident judge cannot be appointed at this time, said Debbie McEwen, spokesperson for the department of Justice. She pointed out the appointment of Claude Fafard to the bench in Weyburn is still in place, even though he hasn't sat in Weyburn for almost a year due to an extended sick leave. Judge Fafard was appointed to replace Wallace Goliath, who retired from the bench.

McEwen also said the minister declined to offer any comments on the problems outlined in the letter as they concern the judiciary, and the legislative branch of government cannot interfere in its operation.

Acknowledging he doesn't understand all of the processes involved in court operations, Mayor Schlosser said in the letter, "I can assure you the message I am getting from residents and victims is that court is a joke, (along with) frustration and disbelief that the offender seems to have more rights than the victim. I think a lot of what is happening is due to a judge not having any ties to the community whatsoever, even though the judge may be properly carrying out his/her duties."

Some of the sentences criticized include the practice of converting restitution to community service hours, discharges for possession of narcotics, and placing offenders on further probation orders after breaching probation orders.

Mayor Schlosser said in an interview he hopes the letter will provoke a response to the city's concerns, although no meeting has been requested with the minister at this point.

"We have to have more consistency. We have a different judge every week. They've got no involvement in the city. They come from Moose Jaw or Regina, do it for a day and go home. It's very frustrating to our police force and it's frustrating for the people who come to court," said the mayor.

Weyburn-Big Muddy MLA Brenda Bakken attended court on Monday to see for herself what the city's concerns were, and said she would ask to speak to minister Axworthy later.

"The major problem is we need a judge who has understanding of the community. Ideally we should have our own judge, if not the same judge coming here every week. In light of the fact minister Axworthy reversed his decision (to close Weyburn's courthouse), the expectation was the same level of justice would be maintained. That issue needs to be addressed," said the MLA.

Two members of Weyburn's legal community also agree that the city has legitimate concerns to bring to minister Axworthy, although they pointed out he wouldn't be able to address the concerns raised over recent sentencing practices.

Some of the concerns outlined in this letter were outlined earlier, when the city and legal bar fought the order for the closure of the courthouse which came out of the provincial budget, said Bill Holliday.

"When the community had a residing judge here, were these concerns in the forefront here? I don't think they were. The residing judge always made the point to be seen to be providing justice suitable to the community and district. They made a definite effort in that regard. The judges who come here may be making that effort, but they are not resident here and can't develop that sense of community that a resident judge would have," said Holliday.

The biggest concern that arises out of this situation is a decline of confidence in the justice system, he added, which makes these concerns worth looking at.

"They changed their mind about locking the door to the courthouse, but the justice system is about more than the building," he said.

Lawyer Greg Bobbitt said while the minister cannot address sentencing directly, the problem of not having a consistent local judge can lead to sentencing that is not perceived as justice by the local community.

There have been long delays on some court days, said Bobbitt, because only one court clerk travels here from Moose Jaw with the judge, with the result that drawing up of documents (such as probation orders) has to wait until the court session itself is over, a situation that no one would put up with in Regina or Saskatoon. When Weyburn had their own court clerks, one clerk did up the documents while the other served in court, and there was minimal delay.

"The fact of not having a resident judge is compounded by not having a court clerk. I think the mayor's concerns are very legitimate," said Bobbitt. "I don't mean to fault any of the judges who come here, but they didn't choose to come to Weyburn. They don't appreciate the drive and will appreciate it even less in the winter."

He said Weyburn's lawyers met recently with Judge Bruce Henning, the chief judge for southern Saskatchewan who has also filled in here on occasion, but the lawyers didn't get a positive response.

The judge was under orders from the minister, said Bobbitt, so he couldn't very well speak against what was decided for the Weyburn court. Bobbitt also didn't agree with the view expressed in the city's letter that the placement of provincial court judges was beyond the minister's control, pointing out, "that's where the buck stops."