NWT judges get pay boost
Commission rejects GNWT call for four-year salary freeze
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The GNWT has lost an attempt to freeze the salaries of territorial court judges for four years.
The four regular judges and deputy judges who hear the vast majority of cases in the territory received a pay increase this year of 4.5 per cent to $272,000, despite the GNWT claiming poverty. That's less than the 9.1-per-cent increase judges argued they deserve to preserve judicial independence and to compensate for their working conditions.
The raise was the result of a binding recommendation from the Judicial Remuneration Commission, which hears from judges and government every four years on how pay and other benefits should be adjusted. The commission exists so the sides don't have to directly negotiate. This preserves judicial independence.
The raise was effective April 1, according to the commission's report tabled in the legislative assembly last week.
A request for comment on the decision was declined by the judges, as is standard.
The commission does not cover justices of the peace. NWT Court of Appeal and NWT Supreme Court judge salaries are paid by the federal government. Territorial court hears most non-jury trial criminal code cases and frequently travels to other communities for what is called circuit court, so cases can be heard in a person's home community. It also hears civil matters under $35,000, family court and violations of territorial and federal statutes, such as environmental, fisheries and wildlife acts. The judges will see a guaranteed 1.5-per-cent increase as well as an increase based on the rate of inflation for the previous year. Inflation is a measure of changes to the cost of living.
Should inflation projections from the Conference Board of Canada hold true, the salary would reach $304,491 by 2019-20. That figure could change if inflation is different than projections. The chief judge, Christine Gagnon, makes an additional $15,000 per year.
The average personal income in the territory in 2013 was $58,329, according to the most recent Statistics Canada data. When Hay River North MLA R. J. Simpson asked about the report in the legislative assembly last week, Justice Minister Louis Sebert said salaries are on par with judicial pay in other parts of Canada.
"There are some challenges certainly in living in the Northwest Territories and the judges must travel far more than judges do in the south, so it's more demanding from that point of view," Sebert said. "And the salaries certainly are not out of line with the salaries in other jurisdictions."
The GNWT opposed the judges' proposed increases, arguing economic conditions meant the government couldn't afford increases. That position came after initially proposing "modest increases" to "attract and retain highly qualified judges."
In response, the judges argued the government's freeze request was just posturing ahead of the start of negotiations with its approximately 4,000 unionized public service workers. While the commission rejected the argument about posturing because of a lack of evidence, it found the GNWT's claims of dire economic conditions were also lacking.
The judges had argued that since the last salary commission, the scope of work had increased and conditions judges face during circuit court are more onerous than those faced by other judges in Canada. The commission agreed, writing working conditions support a salary that ranks among the highest in the country.
Past commissions have set levels that put salaries among the top in the nation.
Since then, the judges' salary has slipped in comparative ranking. The last commission, in 2012, resulted in a seven-per-cent increase in salary. That put judges' pay fourth across the country, behind Ontario, Alberta and Yukon.
The judges also argued for an increase in vacation time to 40 days per year, no matter seniority.
The commission saw "no compelling reason" to change from an existing scale that sees judges with less than 10 years' service get 31.5 days off while those with more than 20 years service get 40 days.
