Edmonton Drug Treatment & Community Restoration Court

Operation of the Edmonton DTC program is based upon the concept of a “Court Team.” This team is comprised of the presiding Judge, of an assigned Crown counsel, alternate Crown counsel, assigned duty counsel (Legal Aid Society), alternate duty counsel, individual defence counsel, and the in-house DTC Program Staff, including the Executive Director, Case Manager / Treatment, and the Case Manager / Probation.

 

A judge of the Provincial Court of Alberta Criminal Division presides over the Edmonton Drug Treatment and Community Restoration Court. Alternate judges are available on an on-call basis to cover for vacation or illness. An alternative judge may also be drawn from the Family and Youth Division in anticipation that the new court concept will be expanded to include youth justice offenders, and in recognition of the Edmonton Youth Court Restorative Health Forum, a separate program addressing substance abuse among youth who appear before the courts.

 

Accused persons who participate in the EDTCRC program (as all accused persons in Alberta and in Canada) have a right to counsel, and counsel of their choice, and where they cannot afford to pay for legal services, their counsel is paid, on a pre-approved basis and at a regulated hourly rate. A special Duty Counsel, who is employed by the Legal Aid Society of Alberta on a full time basis, is available during EDTCRC court sessions to interview subjects in and out of custody before court commences.  Duty counsel will consult with Crown counsel to review the list of eligible subjects and will communicate the Crown offer to subjects who are not individually represented by defence counsel.  Duty counsel will advise subjects of their right to apply for Legal Aid and will facilitate applications to Legal Aid.  Duty counsel is a member of the EDTCRC court team, attends pre-court meetings and is present at court sessions as well as participates in committee and subcommittee meetings.  Individual defence counsel who have clients in the program also attend pre-court meetings.

 

The Court Team meets each day that the Court sits (weekly) to review the status of each case and the progress of participants. Court Team members are required to undertake training programs to more effectively perform their role. Guidance is also provided through documents. The pre-court meeting, on the day that the drug treatment court is in session, is a core feature of the operation of the Court Team. Each Team member is encouraged to discuss as pertinent each participant, in particular those appearing before the Judge that day. Crown counsel chairs pre-court meetings. Participants waive the right to attend these meetings, and also approve the fact that their counsel (or, duty counsel) will represent their interests, and furthermore that their case and their participation and progress will be presented to and discussed by the Court Team.

 

Matters that occur in drug court are expressly not admissible against the accused participant if he or she withdraws or is expelled from the program. This is explicitly contained in the Waiver executed by the participant and contained on the court file. In such cases the accused may return to regular docket court, after their guilty plea is withdrawn, to start the criminal process over again, without prejudice to their rights or to their right make a full answer and defence. Alternatively, the participant may plead guilty before the drug treatment court Judge.

 

There is a 60-day period (after formal admission) during which the accused may withdraw on notice (whereupon a consent application for withdrawal of plea is made). After that, the accused must make an application before the DTC Judge to withdraw their guilty plea, and the Judge may or may not grant that application. In most case where accused persons have either withdrawn (after 60 days) or have been expelled due to non-compliance or where subjected to breach of probation and/or new criminal or CDSA charges, they have asked to maintain their guilty plea and be sentenced before the presiding DTC judge.