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NUNAVUT
The wheels of justice need some grease as Nunavut's legal aid lawyers struggle to get instructions from clients, and as Crown conflicts of interest force the court to wait for visits by southern lawyers.

Faced with a backlog of cases, Chief Justice Robert Kilpatrick voiced his concern about the resource problems in court earlier last month.

"There's a systemic problem with the way files are being handled in Iqaluit," Kilpatrick said to Maliiganik lawyer John Thompson, who was covering legal aid files for the week. "There's been a committee struck. Something has to be done because it's not working."

Kilpatrick said it was wrong for one defendant to be heading to trial without knowing who his lawyer will be. The accused has previously had six different lawyers, was represented Aug. 13 by Malcolm Kempt, who was also filling in, and he will be represented at trial by yet another lawyer, yet to be assigned.

But it wasn't the only such case. Kilpatrick expressed concern that for one case, the accused had eight appearances before having counsel assigned to the file. Thompson countered that the client had only recently sought help from legal aid.

And that is perhaps a bigger problem: clients who need representation but don't help their own causes.

"Citizens appearing in front of a court have some responsibility in seeing a lawyer," Kilpatrick said during the proceedings for another case where Maliiganik lawyer Scott Wheildon had not yet received instructions. "This matter has been put down since July 16 so Mr. Wheildon could get instructions. They should not be babysat."

With respect to Crown conflicts, chief federal prosecutor Barry Nordin told Nunavut News/North they're normal everywhere, and that it's better to avoid any conflicts of interest, even if this delays proceedings until the next time an outside - typically southern - Crown prosecutor is in Iqaluit. He said outside prosecutors visit fairly regularly, but admitted the frequency has reduced in the recent past.

Nordin also welcomed Kilpatrick's suggestion that the courts set aside a conflict week monthly or quarterly. Crown prosecutors will declare a conflict if a case involves a personal or office relationship, or if it involves police or lawmakers, or family members of those individuals, he said.

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