Justice on Target is helping justice participants work together to address criminal court delay at the local level, while respecting their independent roles. The process of scheduling a criminal court trial is one example where collaboration is the key.

In Sarnia, local leaders created a Date-Setting Sub-Committee, led by a member of the local Defence Bar, Janet Whitehead. The Committee worked together to come up with a clearly defined process that would save time for everyone involved. The result is a protocol that sets out a more effective process for scheduling trial time.

Under the new protocol, defence will submit dates of availability to the Trial Coordinator before matters are set for trial. The Trial Coordinator will meet with Crowns - both federal and provincial - and police to choose the earliest date possible from the list of available dates provided by Defence. The date is chosen before it is set in court and on the record. The advantage of this approach is that valuable court time is not taken up trying to determine dates. The coordination all takes place before court begins.

Whitehead says it took a fair amount of discussion to establish the protocol, but "Once everyone at the table understood the practical realities behind each group's position, we were able to tweak the earlier proposal into something that met everyone's needs."

And, she adds, "What we have come up with will be a time benefit to Defence Counsel and assist court staff and the Crown. The process moves quickly because everyone has already agreed to the date before entering the courtroom."

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