Manitoba wildfires and evacuations wreak havoc on northern courts
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As wildfires continue to burn across the province, cancelled court dates and hearings are putting a huge and growing strain on the court system in northern Manitoba.
That backlog has some wondering how long it will take to get things back to normal, and how many will now fall through the legal cracks.
"The wildfires have really messed everything up," criminal defence attorney Chris Sigurdson said. "Things get backed up on the docket, and unfortunately, when that happens, things don't get dealt with.
"People become scattered and lose touch with the system and their lawyers, so if there is no court up there for several weeks, people can really get lost in the system."
Winnipeg-based Sigurdson, who has been representing clients in northern Manitoba for more than 20 years, said that since the beginning of June, multiple days of court in multiple communities have been cancelled due to fires.
Between June 2 and June 20, court dates have been cancelled in Nelson House, Norway House, Gillam, Gods Lake Narrows, Leaf Rapids, Split Lake, Cross Lake, Flin Flon, Cranberry Portage, Pukatawagan, St. Theresa Point and Garden Hill.
The result of those cancellations, Sigurdson said, is backed-up court dockets that are now "bursting at the seams" with cases that need to be dealt with.
If those dockets continue to grow, it could lead to some people being forced to spend more time locked up while they wait to appear in court, he said.
There are also many people who already struggle with making court dates, and he sees that issue growing.
"So many already feel disconnected from the system, and now there's an even greater chance that some just aren't going to physically show up, and that's how people get lost," he said.
When people can return to their communities, Sigurdson said he and others are expecting long days in northern Manitoba courthouses.
"There's going to be a lot of problems," he said. "We will have to prioritize, and deal with things that need to be done for public safety and deal with those people who are in custody longer than they should be, so we will do the best we can.
"Everything is important, but things that can wait are going to have to wait, and for those on bail or in diversion programs, that really puts them in limbo.
"We're just going to have to bear down and power our way through, and go through it as responsibly as we can."
Manitoba provincial court Chief Judge Ryan Rolston also said the backed-up dockets in the north are a growing concern.
"Whenever you put over a full docket of accused, you're going to start to create a bit of a snowball," Rolston said.
Once closed courthouses are up and running again, Rolston said, they do have ways to prioritize the most pressing cases.
"We've advised the counsel that if their matter is urgent — for example, if you have an accused in custody and you want to deal with that sooner — then there's ways that can be brought forward," he said.
Concerns about released people
With several northern communities still evacuated, Rolston is also concerned that some who get out of jail, either on bail or after serving out a sentence, may have nowhere to go.
"That's one of our major concerns," he said. "For example, if someone is released and their family lives in a community like Shamattawa, well, Shamattawa is evacuated, so they may be coming out saying, 'Where is my family?'"
Thousands of wildfire evacuees are set to return to their homes in northwestern Manitoba in the coming days.
Lynn Lake has now lifted its evacuation order and citizens were expected to begin returning home on Friday, while Flin Flon's council announced Friday they are now working to rescind their order, and plan to start welcoming citizens back next Wednesday.
The province cautioned this week, however, that with temperatures set to rise heading into July, wildfire conditions could still worsen and escalate.
But even as communities start to open back up, Rolston said it won't be as easy as simply opening up courthouses and resuming cases once people return.
"They have bigger-picture issues on their mind, like making sure they have electricity and making sure that people are back in their homes," he said. "So I'll be speaking to their leadership groups to make sure that we return when they're ready to have us.
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