In a letter dated March 14, 2017 to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, the CBA’s National Criminal Justice Section urges the government to complete a careful and comprehensive review of the many challenges facing Canada’s criminal justice system, taking advantage of current research and hearing from all justice system participants.
In the submission, the CBA supports retaining preliminary inquiries for the practical value they offer to the criminal justice system. The submission offers five main points arguing against their elimination:
- Preliminary inquiries are not the cause of court delays
- Unnecessary preliminary inquiries have been significantly curtailed
- Preliminary inquiries mitigate court delays
- Eliminating the preliminary inquiry would not reduce stays
- Eliminating the preliminary inquiry would ignore real efficiency problems
Read the submission