Legal community `stunned' at Peel funding: Stunt continued from p.6 "The overriding concern I would have is a lack of appropriate privacy for justice issues," he said. "There appears to be a lot of business being done in the halls." On Dec. 2, 2014 the same MPPs met with representatives from the Ministry of the Attorney General, at the request of Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott, and all agreed that a new courthouse was needed. "The major improvement from my point-of-view would be having both courts (Burlington and Milton) on the same site," Flynn said. At that December meeting between MPPs, however, no mention was made of a major infrastructure investment for Peel Region Halton is becoming to be announced the following month. one of the lost children Stunt said he was of the Ontario judicial therefore "stunned" in system. For some early January when the reason, its obvious Province announced a needs have been six-floor, "state-of-theoverlooked. art" addition to A. Grenville and William Davis There has been no Courthouse in Brampton. increase in the number "I get that you need to of judges on our court plan for the future but we since my appointment desperately need space in 2004. now and they're giving them four floors that aren't going to be used for Justice Alan D. Cooper years," Stunt said. Halton While construction is underway, the Ministry of the Attorney General said it would be left up to Milton, Orangeville and Kitchener "to deal with the added pressures." "The upgrade to Brampton obviously is a much lower budget figure than a replacement (building) in Halton, but the Attorney General's office knows something needs to be done in Halton," Flynn said. But Stunt said Halton's judicial resources are already straining under heavy workload, and judges could soon reasonable delays over 15 months caused "financial and emotional prejudice." The Ontario judge said that because of Halton's "explosive growth" there was a risk of "slipping further into a crisis situation" if more resources weren't committed. Stunt explains that even Internet access is hard to come by in many areas of the courthouse and has affected how lawyers do their jobs. "In the courtrooms, there is very little opportunity for Internet access," Stunt said. "Normally, in other buildings, right in the middle of a trial you can just be pulling up cases and precedents here you can't do it." Stunt said he and many of his colleagues agree with Flynn that Milton's courthouse is past the point of Paul Stunt start hearing more requests to throw out cases because of a Canadian Charter right protecting against unreasonable delays. "We're at the point now where getting a case to trial is way too long," Stunt said. On Jan. 15, Halton Justice Alan. D Cooper dismissed a pair of dangerous driving charges resulting from an incident in Burlington citing unreasonable delays in the justice system. Cooper told the court that without more resources and personnel there would be "more and cases will likely be the subject of unreasonable delay applications. "Halton is becoming one of the lost children of the Ontario judicial system. For some reason, its obvious needs have been overlooked," Cooper said. "There has been no increase in the number of judges on our court since my appointment in 2004." Cooper described the Burlington court as not looking like a "traditional" courthouse because of its location in "an aging strip mall-like location" on Plains Road East. Similarly in 2012, Justin Stephen Brown stayed charges against a man accused of impaired driving because unexpansion and should be amalgamated with the Burlington court in a new location. "This courthouse doesn't have to be here, in fact, most of us would say it should be moved to a more central location." Stunt said, noting the lack of municipal transit service from Oakville and Burlington to Milton. Flynn said he's strongly advocating within government to ensure a new Halton courthouse is a top priority each budget cycle. "I think if we had one centralized court it would be a lot more effective, and a lot more efficient and could probably here more cases, more quickly," Flynn said. "What we're hoping is that the next central courthouse that's built in the Province of Ontario is in Halton." 21 | Thursday, January 29, 2015 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com AIRE ONE MADNESS SALE! 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