The Quebec government says it's making steady progress towards speeding up delays in the justice system, but it's not certain when the public will see any difference.
Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée and Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux spoke to media at the Montreal courthouse to update on measures they've been putting in place since December.
They noted how they've named 16 Quebec Court judges and hired 52 crown prosecutors, plus more than 260 support staff, corrections agents and court constables. the government also added three court rooms in Montreal and Laval, as well as setup a video conference system in detention centres to speed up arraignments.
Vallée said they're still in discussions with the federal government to appoint Superior Court justices to deal with more serious crimes.
There are still about 1,000 cases at-risk because of the Supreme Court's Jordan ruling, which pute new time limits on getting court cases through the system. There are over 680 motions on the docket to toss long-standing cases out of court.
The justice minister said she couldn't say when the public would see a dent in the backlog of court cases.
"It's difficult to tell you a date but the objective is 10,000 additional files (a year)," said Vallée.
The measures are part of the government's four year, $175-million plan to address the delays in the court system.
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