The Province has hired five new judges and a host of other support staff, including Crown Prosecutors in hopes of reducing long waits in the criminal justice system.

Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley says many of these positions are brand new and were promised in this year's budget.

"Four of these five Provincial Court Judge positions were created in the 2018 budget, so those are new positions, while one of them is filling a vacancy. The budget also included funding for 55 court clerks, 13 bail clerks and up to 10 additional Crown Prosecutors, and that's in addition to the 10 that were funded with the Rural Crime Initiative."

She says it takes a while to hire for these jobs, particularly for rural areas, which are traditionally tougher to staff and see higher turnover rates.

 

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