Federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has named four new Quebec judges.
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Wilson-Raybould announced Thursday that Karen Rogers, Christine Baudouin, Frederic Bachand and Daniel Royer will sit as Superior Court justices.
The appointments partially fulfil Quebec’s request for 14 new judges to fill critical gaps in the province’s justice system.
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Quebec is just one of many provinces where more judges are required, partly because of a Supreme Court ruling last summer that capped the length of trials in order to respect a defendant’s charter rights.
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The country’s high court ruled that legal proceedings can’t exceed 18 months in provincial court and 30 months in Superior Court.
As a consequence, suspected criminals across the country have been set free after the length of their trials exceeded the legal limit.