I’m always impressed by the ingenuity and dedication of Alberta Justice
staff to meet the needs of the people they serve.

This became even more clear to me during a recent trip I took to southern Alberta where I visited Justice employees in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

My visit with Crown prosecutors, Provincial Court and Court of Queen’s Bench employees, and with other justice stakeholders, in both cities gave me the opportunity to thank them for their efforts and to ask them about their ideas on how we can improve our services for Albertans.

The efforts of staff and stakeholders in these two cities helped develop two very important initiatives that are now assisting Albertans across the province.

The practice of collaborative law has grown significantly in recent years. The Medicine Hat legal community was one of the first to fully embrace this important initiative that requires parties to sign an agreement committing to work together to resolve their case outside of court.

Collaborative law helps parties focus on common interests, understand each other’s concerns, and reach mutually acceptable solutions.

As a result of a pilot project in Lethbridge and the work of a cross-sector committee, early case resolution is now being practised across Alberta to reach an appropriate resolution to many criminal matters without unnecessary court appearances.

Last year in Lethbridge, more than 3,000 police witnesses and more than 2,700 civilian witnesses were cancelled as a result of this initiative. Across the province, literally thousands of hours of court time are being saved resulting in cost savings and the more efficient use of court resources.

I applaud our staff in Medicine Hat and Lethbridge on their accomplishments and thank them for taking the time during my visit to discuss their work. I look forward to meeting with other staff during the months ahead and to hear about their efforts on behalf of Albertans.

I’m very pleased to be celebrating my second anniversary as Alberta Solicitor General.

I want to take this opportunity to highlight some of the amazing things we have accomplished over the last two years. These accomplishments would not have been possible without the help of staff, the law enforcement community, crime prevention groups, victims services programs, corrections partners and other levels of government.

Many steps have been taken to protect the children of this province. Amber Alert was introduced, a child witness waiting room was developed and we convinced the federal government to make a commitment to developing a national sex offender registry.

Our commitment to helping youth involved in crime was also recognized when the youth justice committees received a gold medal from the Institute of Public Administration of Canada.

We also saw many milestones over the last two years. Offenders at the Calgary Correctional Centre repaired their one-millionth pair of eyeglasses, and the program won a Silver Premier’s Award of Excellence. More than 1,600 toys made by offenders in our facilities were given to those in need and 170 correctional services employees were presented with exemplary service awards. Twenty-five Albertans were also presented with crime prevention awards.

Other very important highlights include the successful completion of the G8 summit, the pilot project for case aides, the reviews of corrections, policing and victims programs, the launch of the high-risk offender web site, and the development of a counter terrorism process.

You should all be very proud, because none of this could have happened without you. I have been very fortunate to be assigned to a ministry where everyone truly puts their hearts into their work. Thank you for your dedication over the last two years. I can’t wait to see what the years ahead will bring.

One of the key challenges of the justice system is to build and maintain the trust of the public we serve. In order for that to happen, we must continually strive to align our programs and services with the needs of our diverse stakeholders, which include our partners in law enforcement, the judiciary, other ministries, non-government agencies, the legal profession and the public.

At Alberta Justice, we believe this can only be accomplished through ongoing review of the basic philosophy and design of our programs, a clear definition of the outcomes we are trying to achieve and agreement with our partners on our respective roles and responsibilities.

We must also strive to ensure our actions result in a more effective and sustainable justice system that is both cost-effective and supported by the public. To develop a clear and consistent course of action for our programs, we have moved toward becoming a “policy-informed” organization, focused on research and analysis and guided by best practices from around the world.

I recently announced the establishment of a Policy Secretariat that will allow Alberta Justice to become more policy-informed in the delivery of its programs. Under the direction of the department’s executive management team, the Policy Secretariat will work closely with program managers to establish a Justice policy framework that also supports the government’s cross-ministry policy priorities.

Along with our existing system of strategic and business planning, our Policy Secretariat will allow Alberta Justice to continue to meet the very high expectations of the public and the challenges of the future.

For further information about the Policy Secretariat, I encourage you to contact the Executive Director, Randy Petruk at 427-0842 (email: Randy.Petruk@gov.ab.ca)

Jim Nichols ,
Deputy Solicitor General

Recently the Government of Alberta conducted its annual employee survey that measures employee views and opinions, mostly related to job satisfaction.

Among Solicitor General employees, almost half said their work group or division did not help them understand how their work contributes to the department's or the government's business plan. This result was very different from the views of other government employees who said they generally did understand how their work contributes to the business plan.

While I was disappointed to see this, I can also understand why this is the case. The Solicitor General's department only became a separate ministry two years ago and it has been only a year since we developed our own business plan.

Over the past two years there have been comprehensive government reviews of all our key business areas: corrections, policing and victims of crime. Reviews like these - by their nature and mandate - question the way we do things. Out of this can come uncertainty and confusion among those doing the work.

Our staff are also geographically dispersed and not easily reached through traditional communications methods. Many of our staff, for example, do not work eight hours a day in front of a computer where they might read about our broader business plans.

I want to say very clearly that I have heard your concerns, I recognize the problem, and I will be taking steps to improve the situation. You will be hearing more about this in the near future.

It is important for all of us to understand how our efforts contribute to the goal of safe communities.

That understanding, in itself, is a worthy goal.

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