Ten new judges will take the bench in Alberta as the province scrambles to get trials to court to prevent criminal cases from being thrown out over lengthy delays.

The new positions have been added in response to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Jordan that reaffirmed the constitutional right to be tried with a reasonable amount of time. As a result of the groundbreaking judgment, accused parties could have their charges stayed if their trial is not heard within a defined window of time.

The following is an excerpt from the Supreme Court Judgment in R. v. Jordan from July 8, 2016 (courtesy Judgments of the Supreme Court of Canada)

At the heart of this new framework is a presumptive ceiling beyond which delay, from the charge to the actual or anticipated end of trial, is presumed to be unreasonable, unless exceptional circumstances justify it. The presumptive ceiling is 18 months for cases tried in the provincial court, and 30 months for cases in the superior court (or cases tried in the provincial court after a preliminary inquiry). Delay attributable to or waived by the defence does not count towards the presumptive ceiling.

Once the presumptive ceiling is exceeded, the burden is on the Crown to rebut the presumption of unreasonableness on the basis of exceptional circumstances. If the Crown cannot do so, a stay will follow.

The Alberta Crown Prosecution Service has implemented a triage approach of prioritization to ensure the most serious and violent cases are heard in a reasonable amount of time.

“The Jordan decision represents a marked departure in the operation of law with little time to adapt,” said Kathleen Ganley, Alberta’s Minister of Justice and Solicitor General. “I will not sugarcoat it, the work we have in front of us is daunting and this issue is not restricted to Alberta.”

“The Crown’s work to address the backlog and delays in our court system has been ongoing but has taken on additional urgency in the wake of Jordan.”

Ganley says she is aware of six pending 'Jordan' applications before the courts in Alberta.

According to the Alberta Government, nine positions will be added to the Court of Queen’s Bench and an additional position will be created in the Court of Appeal. On Thursday afternoon, the federal government announced appointments for several justice positions in Alberta but several roles remain vacant.

"We are pleased to learn that the federal government has made several new judicial appoinments to the Court of Queen's Bench and Court of Appeal in Alberta," said Ganley following the announcement. "However, even with this positive step, we believe Alberta needs more justices, which is why we created 10 new positions. We look forward to continuing to work with the federal government to have these positions filled.”

The moves, which will occur through amendments to provincial legislation in the coming weeks, will see Alberta’s justices per capita increase to a level similar to that of other provinces.

In addition to the creation of the justice positions, the provincial government has announced an additional $9.4 million in funding for Legal Aid Alberta to cover the program’s operational costs. With the increase, provincial funding for Legal Aid Alberta in 2016-2017 will total $77.9 million.