Cases collapse at Toronto's newest courthouse amid 'staggering' number of closures, staff shortages

A case involving the alleged sexual assault of a minor is the latest to be thrown out at Toronto's newest courthouse due to the “staggering” number of courtroom closures fuelled by staffing shortages at the facility, according to an Ontario Court of Justice ruling published last week.

The shortages have plagued the facility for many months, Justice Peter Fraser wrote in his decision, and the closures have become a near-daily reality.

• Download our app to get local alerts on your device
• Get the latest local updates right to your inbox

The most recent charges stayed due to the closures were against a young person, identified only as C.L., accused of the sexual assault of another young person.

C.L.’s trial was scheduled for March 23, the decision reads, but four of the 12 courtrooms were closed that day and only 15 minutes of court time could be allotted to the matter. The next day, on March 24, five of 12 courtrooms in the building were closed, and the matter could only be addressed for one hour.

The trial could not be completed in the given time and was adjourned to July.

At this point, it had been over two years since the charges had been placed on C.L.. Citing his Charter right to a trial within reasonable time had been breached, the youth applied to have the charges stayed – an application granted by the court in June.

The new Toronto courthouse, located on 10 Armory Street, opened in February 2023, and took over criminal proceedings from six Ontario Court of Justice courthouses in Toronto, North York, and Scarborough – a decision the union representing many of its workers says it warned the government would cause hardships for both staff and those within the system.

The former Ontario Court of Justice at 1000 Finch Avenue can be seen above. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

The Toronto facility isn't alone in facing delays — courtrooms in Ontario are facing the worst delays in the country — but Fraser’s decision provided a glimpse into operations at the new location, bogged down by the delays he described as “wreaking havoc on the orderly conduct of business.” Within it, he extracted evidence outside of that presented in court, daily emails on sent out to inform staff of court closures, to show that between March 31 and July 6, a total of 343 courts at 10 Armoury St. were closed.

“The number of closures is clearly staggering and has caused significant disruption to criminal matters in the Ontario Court of Justice,” Fraser wrote. “On several days, the number of closures [was] well into the double-digits. As an example, on June 12, 2023, no fewer than 18 courtrooms had to close.”

The closures often see Crown attorneys, defence counsel, complainants, witnesses, police officers, and accused persons waiting to find out if their matters can proceed or not, the decision reads.

While the staffing issues have been ongoing for months now, “the cause of all this has not been explained,” Fraser wrote, referring to the staffing shortages.

"I gave the Crown ample opportunity to provide evidence explaining why the state had failed to staff the courts to the extent seen here. The Crown declined,” he wrote. “As a result, no justification has been provided for the disruptions of the past several months.”

When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General told CTV News Toronto that its Court Services Division “continues to recruit and onboard new staff to support courthouses in Toronto, including the Ontario Court of Justice [in] Toronto.”

“We are fully committed to doing more to ensure victims have access to justice and offenders are held accountable and are working to further address these issues,” they said.

The ministry pointed to two provincial strategies currently in place to help alleviate court backlogs – the Criminal Court Backlog Reduction Strategy, in which the province spent $72M to support the hiring of new court staff, and the COVID-19 Recovery Directive, which prioritizes the prosecution of serious offenses in an effort to reduce the likelihood that egregious case prosecutions would be dismissed for delay.

In response, CTV News Toronto asked the Ministry if it could provide insight into the reasoning behind the shortages, but has not received a response.

The charges against C.L aren’t the first to be tossed due to the shortages. In a decision published in late August, an impaired driving charge was stayed for the same reason. The trial in that case, scheduled for June 14, was delayed due to the absence of an available clerk for the court.