B.C. government appoints nine new judges to deal with court backlogs

VICTORIA – The B.C. government has appointed nine new provincial court judges to deal with backlogged cases throughout the province.

Attorney General Shirley Bond says the new appointments are in response to recommendations in a report on justice reform by lawyer Geoffrey Cowper.

The government and Chief Judge Thomas Crabtree will also work together on two projects to address the clogged court system.

One of the projects will focus on reducing pending child protection cases in some courthouse locations while the other will work on eliminating the backlog in criminal cases.

The appointments come after provincial court judges criticized the provincial government over long trial delays that forced judges to throw out serious criminal cases.

The new judges will be appointed over the next seven weeks and more justice reforms are expected to be announced early in the new year.