Province’s Minister of Justice responds to report that gives poor grades to justice system

Alberta’s Justice Minister taking questions over Justice’s poor marks in the latest report from the MacDonald-Laurier Institute.

In its latest study, it gave the province a “C”, which is also the lowest mark in the nation.

It centred the province out for fairness and access to justice.

“In terms of legal aid we increased funding in this budget year and there is also subsequent funding that is going to go out as in-year funding so we are working with them to make sure their needs are addressed,” said Minister Kathleen Ganley. “Certainly they have a significant burden on them because of an increase in applications.”

Ganley continued to reiterate how concerned her government was over the marks and how they’re aiming to do better.

She also said it’s important to note the report centres on numbers from before they took power and that much of the issues they focused on are from the previous government.

The report also centres out a lack of judges and Alberta’s high rate of aboriginal incarceration.

The minister was asked why the province stopped providing those numbers to Statistics Canada.

“It’s certainly of a great concern to this government, the over-carceration of indigenous populations which we know is going on.”

She says her government is committed to addressing the issue which she added is critical in moving forward.