Mould, asbestos and vermin at a Milton, Ont., courthouse have prompted judges to stop presiding over in-person cases at the building.
On Monday, Justice Clayton Conlan, the Superior Court criminal case management judge at the courthouse, wrote that Superior Court judges would no longer be sitting in-person at the courthouse until further notice after carefully reviewing the situation at the building.
Conlan said it was a "disappointing day for justice in the Halton region" but judges cannot allow members of the public and justice officials to enter the building while it remains contaminated.
"As the criminal case management judge, I am very distressed about this development," Conlan wrote as he dismissed three criminal cases that were due to be heard that day.
"The impact of those adjournments on the accused persons and on the complainants, and the potential consequences not yet known – for these three cases and for every case of every kind in Halton Region."
The move followed a similar decision weeks earlier by judges with the Ontario Court of Justice to dismiss all in-person hearings following the discovery of mould in parts of the courthouse along with other issues including asbestos, a gas leak and staff shortages.
"Overall, I would say the system bends until it breaks and, at the moment, it is bending,” Justice Scott Latimer, of the Ontario Court of Justice, said, according to a transcript of court proceedings discussing the issues at the Milton courthouse.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General of Ontario said the province has commissioned a report into asbestos at the Milton courthouse and said air samples checking for mould and asbestos indicate air quality was within acceptable limits.
The province said the courthouse remains open and did not comment further on the judges' decisions, citing judicial independence.
The Ford government scrapped a plan in 2020 to build a new courthouse for Halton Region, one of the fastest growing in the province, in favour of upgrading existing buildings in Milton and Burlington, Ont.
Ken Kalertas, president of the Halton County Law Association, wrote to the Ontario Attorney General in May 2020 to criticize that decision, calling the courthouses in Milton and Burlington "chronically dysfunctional."
Kalertas cited a lack of updated infrastructure for jury trials, inadequate meeting spaces and a history of mould and asbestos in the walls as the reason the buildings should be scrapped altogether.
The latest development is the second time in two years that in-person hearings have been suspended at the Milton courthouse – a similar mould problem was found in 2021.
Brendan Neil, a criminal defense lawyer who also serves as the Halton regional chair for the Criminal Lawyers Association, said he is in the building almost every day and believes it isn't safe.
"I've been here since 2005 in Halton and since then there's been ceiling tiles with water stains, various different vermin, whether it be mice or various bugs or what have you – they discovered bats last week," he said in an interview.
Improvements and retrofits are not enough to address the problems that have plagued the courthouse for years, Neil said, expressing concern that the province wasn't taking the matter seriously.
"We still have clerks and reporters that have to come in every single day and sit in those rooms and there seems to be a gross unfairness about that," he said.
The decision by judges to stop in-person hearings at the courthouse also raises concerns about case delays, lawyers said.
"Timely justice is an essential feature of our justice system, and where we can't meet that goal it leads to a loss of confidence in the justice system as a whole," said Daniel Brown, a criminal defence lawyer in Toronto and president of the Criminal Lawyers' Association.
"Whether you're a victim of a crime who never gets your day in court, or you're accused of a crime and your day in court is endlessly delayed, that's a significant concern for everyone in the justice system."
While some trails can be held remotely, trials that require a jury cannot, Brown said.
The Supreme Court of Canada has found that provincial cases must be completed within 18 months or be tossed as it would violate an accused person’s constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time, with the exception of special circumstances.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2023.
William Eltherington, The Canadian Press
