There is rarely such a thing as "business as usual" at Alberta Justice as we are constantly working to improve the way we provide justice services to Albertans. The first half of 2003 was certainly no exception as we've tackled a number of different important issues.

Developing comprehensive and effective legislation is a critical element of the work done in the provincial Legislature. The spring sitting of the Legislature was particularly active this year with 41 bills passed and nine others held over for debate in the fall. My thanks to Peter Pagano and everyone in the department's Legislative Counsel area for their continued commitment to detail. Their ability to work under tight timelines and intense pressure has not gone unnoticed.

Another area where important progress has been made is the Calgary Court Strategy. By exploring the potential of developing the project as a public-private partnership, we may be closer than ever before to breaking ground on a much needed justice centre in Calgary. My thanks to Assistant Deputy Minister Rod Wacowich, Jim McLaughlin and other Court Services staff for their commitment to this initiative and for their work in conjunction with Alberta Infrastructure.

Earlier this spring, the first phase of consultations on the single trial court were held in several centres across the province. Gathering information from key justice stakeholders and examining the structure of the justice system is an important step in finding effective ways of improving access to justice. My thanks to Geoff Ho and all of the Court Services staff working on this project. I look forward to the results of the second phase of consultations with the legal community.

These are just a few of our recent successes. There is always more to be accomplished and I look forward to continuing our work to make Alberta's good justice system even better.

In June, I had the great pleasure of attending the first international Aboriginal and Diversity Law Enforcement Conference, held in Winnipeg. It was a chance to share Alberta’s experiences in addressing the needs of Aboriginal and ethnic communities, but more importantly, it was a learning opportunity.

I think it’s important that individuals, governments, communities, First Nations, Metis and ethnic groups share their experiences of what programs and ideas work as well as those that don’t.

One success that we shared was Wendy Vanderbleek’s story of Andrew and the Magic Mirror, a program she developed to help young offenders with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. By adapting the best of what works in other jurisdictions, and by relying on the creativity of our own staff, we have made Alberta a leader in the country.

AMBER Alert is one example. Alberta’s High Risk Offender website is another. Our successes are encouraging other provinces to adopt our programs. Since January, Ontario, Newfoundland-Labrador and Quebec have established their own AMBER Alert programs. Manitoba set up its own High Risk Offender website in April.

We also have Canada’s largest and most successful Youth Justice Committee program. I’d like to extend my congratulations to everyone involved on winning the Premier’s gold award of excellence.

As I continue in my mandate as Solicitor General, I want to keep this momentum going. I encourage you to think of what else we can do to make this province a safer place for our families and to share these ideas with me, your colleagues and supervisors. One idea can make a difference.

Hope you all have a safe summer.

It is with great pleasure that I congratulate staff who contributed to the Traffic Court First Appearance Centres project and Revised Statutes of Alberta (RSA 2000) on being silver award recipients of the 2003 Premier’s Award of Excellence. Receiving these awards brings distinction to our department and demonstrates to Albertans that we are working towards making their justice system the best it can be.

Staff achievement is important to our department’s goals, and this year’s budget increase will be used to address ongoing staff needs. I believe that helping staff lead more productive and fulfilling careers will in turn help them deliver our core programs and services even more effectively and efficiently.

This is also a key component of the Alberta Justice Organizational Renewal Project that we began in April 2002. As many of you will recall, the project’s vision was to identify “significant opportunities to fundamentally affect processes within the department that will improve the administration of justice in Alberta.” Throughout the Renewal Project, staff were asked to identify various opportunities for improvement. All suggestions and ideas were recorded and then prioritized into a series of interdivisional and cross-divisional initiatives.

In June 2003, we launched the Organizational Renewal Implementation Project. This means that over the next two years a cross-representative project team from Criminal Justice, Court Services and Civil Law, with the assistance of TkMC—a professional management consulting firm—will work with staff to implement the initiatives identified in the 2002 Renewal Project. I thank you for your valuable input into this important initiative and look forward to updating you on its progress in the months ahead.

Jim Nichols ,
Deputy Solicitor General

Have you ever been treated poorly by a business or organization? Perhaps it was the receptionist who didn’t listen to your question and then misdirected your call. Or maybe it was a product or service that didn’t meet your expectations.

Governments are not immune to poor customer service but recently the Alberta government took some steps to address the issue.

The Alberta Public Service Competencies is an initiative that has identified a series of competencies for employee development. Competencies are attitudes, skills, and behaviours differentiating average performance from superior performance.

One of those competencies is client focus or customer service. For Solicitor General staff our clients include offenders and their families, the law enforcement community, lawyers, counsellors, advocacy groups, MLAs, other government departments and many others.

Solicitor General staff, along with all other provincial government staff, will be using these core competencies to effectively manage public policy and deliver quality and affordable services to Albertans.

From initial recruitment to training, career advancement, employee evaluation and recognition, the provincial government now has a process to encourage staff to continuously enhance their skills in adaptability, customer service, communication, problem solving, achieving results and teamwork.

I am very supportive of this initiative and am convinced it will go a long way towards providing Albertans with excellent service and value from its public servants.