Chief justice warns underfunding is breaking Canada's courts
Richard Wagner says lack of resources is delaying trials, boosting unrepresented litigants, and hurting judges' health.
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Canada's judicial system is buckling under the strain of underfunding, and the country's top judge says governments need to find the resources to fix it before more cases get thrown out.
Chief Justice Richard Wagner highlighted the crisis during his annual news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday. The Supreme Court's 2016 Jordan framework set time limits for trials — 18 months at provincial court, 30 months at Superior Court. When trials exceed those limits, charges can be stayed because delays violate the Charter guarantee of a fair trial within reasonable time.
Wagner said the increasing number of stayed cases each year has prompted criticism that the framework is undermining justice. He disagreed. "I still believe that Jordan is the right scheme. It is unfair for a victim to wait for five years to testify in a criminal trial. It is unfair for the accused to wait for five years to have his trial. It was unfair for everybody and for society."
But the root cause is resources. "One stay of proceedings is one stay too many," Wagner said. "The problem at the beginning is resources, and governments across Canada should find the means and the ways to make sure that criminal trials will proceed within a reasonable delay."
Wagner noted that unrepresented litigants are flooding the courts. In 2025, about 37 per cent of applications to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal came from self-represented people. Within recent weeks and months, that number has risen to 43 per cent. Wagner expects it to climb further in 2026.
The Canadian Judicial Council is finalizing a study on judges' health and well-being. Wagner said he expects stress-related findings, given "knowing very well that our judges, whether it be provincial or federal judges, are under stress because of a lack of judicial resources." He said the court is seeing higher response rates from judges on the survey — a sign of how much the issue matters to them.
Wagner said governments have been increasing funding in recent years and should continue. "There is still a lot more to do but I think we are on the right path."