Editor’s Letter: Chaos in the courts

Cait Alexander, an actor from Toronto, has never met Barrett Jordan, a resident of Surrey, BC, but their lives are forever linked. In 2008, Jordan was arrested and charged with selling cocaine and heroin. Four years later, his case finally went to trial, and he was found guilty. His lawyers argued that the time it took to reach the courts constituted a violation of Jordan’s Charter-protected right to a reasonably speedy trial, and they brought his case all the way to the Supreme Court.

There, nine justices heard arguments about whether Jordan’s rights had been violated and debated what “reasonably” speedy in this context meant. In a 5–4 decision, the court agreed with Jordan, and his guilty verdict was expunged. It was a stunning turn of events. But the high court went even further. The assenting judges decreed that Canadian criminal cases that go straight to trial in provincial courts should be wrapped up within 18 months, and cases that require pretrial inquiry or are tried in superior courts should take no longer than 30 months. The courts were backlogged, the justices wrote, due to a “culture of complacency” within the legal system. A strict timeline would jolt the system awake and accelerate the administration of justice.

The decision received relatively little attention at the time, but it would prove to be among the most pivotal rulings in Canadian history. Once R v. Jordan—or just Jordan, as it became known—went into effect, dozens of charges were vacated. Then hundreds. Offenders in open-and-shut cases were free to go. Accused murderers, pedophiles and abusers received get-out-of-jail-free cards. This was especially true in Toronto, which has the busiest courts in the country.

What’s clear now is that, while the justices meant well in their decision, they committed a fatal diagnostic error. Complacency wasn’t the only issue. The system was suffering from chronic overload. There weren’t enough judges to fill vacancies, and the prime minister, who appoints judges, wasn’t moving fast enough. ­Meanwhile, the provincial government wasn’t willing to pay the costs of running the courts at full steam. There were staffing shortages, increasingly complex cases and protracted discovery periods, among other compounding factors. Then, once Covid hit, the slow system turned positively glacial. It has hardly recovered since. Just last year, a record 125 cases were tossed in Ontario because of delays. Naturally, in some instances, the accused may have been innocent. In many cases, they were not.

Cait Alexander was enjoying a blossoming acting and modelling career when she met the man who she alleges became her abuser. Initially, he was charming and gregarious; as their relationship deepened, he turned mercurial, vindictive and violent. As she bravely recounts in her memoir, “Dismissed,” Alexander had the wherewithal to document her injuries and report her partner to the police. To even the most skeptical observer, the evidence seemed clear, abundant and overwhelming. Her life was shattered, but she took solace in the belief that her abuser would pay for his crimes. Then came the day in December of 2022 when Victim Services called to say that, because of Jordan, the charges would be stayed. Today, Alexander is fighting back against the system, but she lives in a constant state of fear. As long as Jordan remains the law of the land, people like her will continue to suffer twice—first at the hands of their abusers and again from the court system meant to protect them.

Malcolm Johnston is the editor of Toronto Life. He can be reached via email at editor@torontolife.com.