Staffing shortages in the B.C. Sheriff Service are nothing new, but the ongoing problem has once again led to courtroom closures.
A shortage of available sheriffs recently forced the closure of five courtrooms for a day at the Surrey Provincial Court, and the Abbotsford Law Courts were forced to close three courtrooms on Friday, Monday and Tuesday for the same reason.
The challenges the sheriff’s service are facing were highlighted in a recent recruitment and retention report commissioned by the provincial government from consultants Business Research and Diagnostics.
“Over the past three years, problems with staffing shortages have once again come to the forefront, with the number of exits surpassing the organization’s capacity to recruit and train new staff,” the report states.
“There have been numerous instances where courtrooms throughout the province have operated without a Deputy Sheriff present,” the report adds. “If this situation continues unchecked, it could lead to court closures and limited access to justice for British Columbians.”
The BC General Employees Union, which represents the province’s sheriffs, says traditionally the service has struggled with retention.
Now it’s also struggling with recruitment, according to union president Stephanie Smith.
“Two years ago, we might have had between 500 and 1,000 applicants for sheriff’s training. Just two or three months ago there were 10,” Smith said.
“The biggest challenge, honestly, is wages, and the difference in wages and the difference in wages that sheriffs will make in the sheriff’s department as opposed to policing.”
Smith said the sheriff’s service is facing increasingly hot competition for recruits with a variety of police services, particularly the new Surrey Police Service, which is heavily staffing up, and the RCMP, which is critically short of members in the province.
Smith said it’s not uncommon for police to earn over $100,000 per year, while sheriffs typically earn in the $75,000 to $80,000.
The province’s third-party report, she said, recommended a “sweet spot” in the $90,000 range.
With the province’s courts already facing backlogs, one Vancouver lawyer said the sheriff shortage could put some trials in jeopardy.
Ryan Hira, an associate with Hira Rowan LLP, pointed to a direction from the Supreme Court of Canada guaranteeing the right for an accused to face trial at the provincial court level within 18 months.
“If there has been an 18-month period wherein the trial has not completed, the charges may be stayed and they are free to walk,” he said.
“If a sheriff is not in the courtroom and a trial cannot occur, and those dates are lost, there are significant knock-on effects for the criminal justice system. We are already short-staffed on judges and courthouses to begin with. And it’s a very significant funding issue that needs to be addressed by the attorney general.”
Smith said the BC General Employees Union has met with B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma to pitch solutions to the staffing crunch.
Along with a pay bump, she said the province could guarantee sheriffs a 40-hour work week and move the sheriff service out of Court Services and into the attorney general’s ministry.
The BC Prosecution Service referred questions on courtroom staffing to the Ministry of the Attorney General.
The minister’s office said Sharma was travelling Wednesday and that she was not available for an interview.