Weyburn City Hall was the host of back-to-back meetings about the impact of closing the Queen’s Bench service from the Weyburn Court House, along with the removal of the sheriff’s position, and the highest concern was for the access of justice for the residents of Weyburn and area.
Ironically, the Minister of Justice was fully briefed on the concerns raised by members of the city’s legal community, by the chief and inspector of the Weyburn Police Service, by the Weyburn Chamber of Commerce and by the City of Weyburn, and he was clear the government would not be bringing back the court staff who will no longer work here after January 1.
Access to justice ought to be a basic right for every citizen of this country, but for the reason of saving around $108,000 (which was correctly called a “pittance”), the City of Weyburn and residents of smaller surrounding communities are being deprived of this access.
Local lawyer Scott Moffat was right on point when he commented that, in breaking down these so-called savings to a daily amount around $300, it’s deeply offensive that the residents of this city and area are being told that they aren’t worth $300 a day — and yet, somehow Estevan is worth this, since the court services are being moved there.
The access to justice has been eroding over the last while, and wasn’t helped when Legal Aid was moved out of Weyburn a couple of years ago, and now people who cannot afford a lawyer and yet are not eligible for Legal Aid end up trying to represent themselves in court regarding legal matters. With no court clerks available to lend any assistance, what do they do then?
Another effect of this move of a higher court out of Weyburn is, the media will now not be able to cover trials when they come up in Court of Queen’s Bench, and in turn the public will then not be able to be updated on the administration of justice when serious matters are dealt with.
When both tangible and intangible impacts have a cost to them as a result of the removal of these court services, the real cost is far beyond the dollar amount of $108,000, which pales in comparison to the over $8 million spent by the government to completely renovate the Court House as a historic landmark building.
The question comes down to this for the provincial government, and the ministry of Justice: is not the administration of justice, and access to it by the public, more important than saving a “pittance”? — Greg Nikkel
