Court Of Queen's Bench For Saskatchewan
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The Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan (Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan during the reign of female monarchs) is the superior trial court for the
Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...
of
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
.


Structure and organization

The court consists of 29 full-time
judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
s and 10
supernumerary judge A supernumerary judge or supernumerary magistrate is a judge who has retired from a full-time position on a court, but continues to work part-time. Generally, when a judge becomes supernumerary, a vacancy is created, and the appropriate person or bo ...
s, all appointed and paid by the
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
. The court's Chief Justice, currently Martel D. Popescul, is styled the Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Both the Chief Justice and puisne justices are addressed as "My Lord" or "My Lady" and referred to as "His Lordship" or "Her Ladyship". This differs from the terminology used in the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan, whose judges are "Your Honour", "His Honour" or "Her Honour". The court sits in nine judicial centres and actions are generally brought in the judicial centre closest to where the action arose, or the residence or place of business of the defendant.


Jurisdiction

The court hears civil and
criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...
cases. It is a court of
inherent jurisdiction Inherent jurisdiction is a doctrine of the English common law that a superior court has the jurisdiction to hear any matter that comes before it, unless a statute or rule limits that authority or grants exclusive jurisdiction to some other court ...
and there is no monetary limit on the claims which it may hear. It also has original jurisdiction over matters assigned to it by statute, such as adjudicating human rights complaints. The court has a Family Law Division, which has exclusive jurisdiction over family law matters in the judicial centres of
Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...
, Regina, and
Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Alb ...
, and concurrent jurisdiction (with the Provincial Court) over family law matters in all other areas of the province. As a superior court of original jurisdiction, it has supervisory jurisdiction over administrative tribunals, exercised by the
prerogative writ "Prerogative writ" is a historical term for a writ (official order) that directs the behavior of another arm of government, such as an agency, official, or other court. It was originally available only to the Crown under English law, and reflecte ...
s. It also has some appellate jurisdiction, hearing appeals from the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan and some administrative bodies. Appeals may be taken from the King's Bench to the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan. A further appeal lies to the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...
.


History

Until it became a province in 1905, Saskatchewan was part of the
North-West Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of the three territories in Northern Canada. Its estimated pop ...
as it existed at that time and its judicial system was that of the territory. In fact, it was not until 1907 – two years after Saskatchewan became a province – that the new province's judicial system was established. The initial court structure of 1907 consisted of three courts: the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan, the District Court (similar to the County Courts of other provinces) and the Surrogate Court. There was no appeal court; rather, appeals were conducted by the
full court A full court (less formally, full bench) is a court of law sitting with a greater than normal number of judges. For a court which is usually presided over by one judge, a full court has three or more judges; for a court which, like many appella ...
of the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan, consisting of all the judges of the Supreme Court, other than the judge who made the decision under appeal. During the First World War, the province reorganized its courts. In 1915, the province passed legislation, ''The King's Bench Act'' and ''The Court of Appeal Act'', for the purpose of creating a new court structure. Those acts came into effect on March 1, 1918, resulting in the abolition of the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan and the creation of the trial-level Court of King's Bench and the Court of Appeal.Courts of Saskatchewan website Queen's Bench History.
Retrieved 12 March 2012.
In 1981, Saskatchewan merged its District Court into the Court of Queen's Bench. As part of that process, the judicial centres of the District Court became the judicial centres of the Court of King's Bench.


Styling

''The Court of King's Bench Act'' foresaw the need to rename the court in the event of a female monarch. The act provides that, during the reign of a king, the court is known as the Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan. During the reign of a queen, it is known as the Court of Queen's Bench for Saskatchewan.


Courts of Saskatchewan

There are three main courts in Saskatchewan: * Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan
appellate court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appel ...
; highest court of Saskatchewan. * Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan superior trial court of Saskatchewan with inherent and unlimited jurisdiction * Provincial Court of Saskatchewan
court of first instance A trial court or court of first instance is a court having original jurisdiction, in which trials take place. Appeals from the decisions of trial courts are usually heard by higher courts with the power of appellate review (appellate courts). ...
; trial court with jurisdiction defined by statute


Notable cases


Attorney General of Canada v Merchant Law Group, 2015

In January 2015, the Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of the federal government launched a lawsuit against Tony Merchant's Regina, Saskatchewan-based law firm—
Merchant Law Group A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
(MLG).Attorney General of Canada v Merchant Law Group, 2016 SKQB 25


July 16, 2015 IRSSA ruling by Justice Neil Gabrielson

Under then Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
, the Conservative government gave a mandate to officials from the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development—now known as the Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Development Canada—to "negotiate a settlement with the Catholic entities" who had committed in the
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement The Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA; , ) is an agreement between the government of Canada and approximately 86,000 Indigenous peoples in Canada who at some point were enrolled as children in the Canadian Indian residential sc ...
(IRSSA) to raise $25 million to pay for healing programs for survivors. As a result, in August 2015, "negotiations began, resulting in a signed agreement on October 30, 2015, and a withdrawal of the Protective Notice of Appeal. Justice Neil Gabrielson had ruled on July 16, 2015 that the federal Conservative government under then Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is to date the only prime minister to have come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ser ...
had "inadvertently released 50 Catholic entities from their contractual responsibility to try to raise up to $25-million for aboriginal healing programs". He said that lawyers on both sides—Alexander Gay representing the federal government and Gordon Kuski, representing the "Catholic entities" had a "meeting of the minds" on a "re-lease" of the Catholic entities from "all obligations". Gabrielson ruled that Gay "should be presumed in this dispute to have had the authority to negotiate on behalf of the Canadian government". A federal government official had confirmed there was "miscommunication with government lawyers that allowed the Catholic Church to escape paying close to $25-million", according to a May 19, 2016
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) is a group of Television in Canada, Canadian Specialty channel, specialty television channels based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The channels broadcast programming produced by or highlighting Indigenous p ...
(APTN) article "Residential schools settlement agreement under fire". Under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) fifty Catholic entities were under three obligations which included $29 million to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, $25 million through "services to aboriginal communities" and finally to use their "best efforts" to "raise $25-million for additional healing programs". By 2015, only $3.7 of the $25 million had been raised. In his July ruling, Gabrielson said that "for a payment of $1.2-million, the Catholic entities were to be released from their responsibilities to raise the remainder of the $25-million, and be seen to have completed the other two categories of contributions." The Catholic entitles had also claimed $29 million for administrative costs. At the request of ''The Globe and Mail'' a
University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...
law professor, Eric Adams, and Ken Young, a residential school survivor and a Winnipeg lawyer, who read Gabrielson's ruling said that the government under Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau (born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of Canada from 2015 to 2025. He led the Liberal Party from 2013 until his resignation in 2025 and was the member of Parliament ...
should have appealed Gabrielson's ruling, as the stakes were so high. Young said that it did not appear that Gay had agreed on behalf of the federal government to "allow the Catholic entities to walk away from their fundraising obligations." The decision served the federal government's interests which explains why an appeal of the ruling was never sought. The Catholic entities under the IRSSA were allowed create a corporation that was to be used to make payment. The fifty Catholic entities were allowed to hide behind a secret agreement where the identity of the Catholic entities that made or failed to make a contribution to the corporation was to remain undisclosed. The victims received payment from the corporation without ever knowing the providence of the monies. The in-kind contributions as well as the monetary contributions were never fully paid. The federal government was content to allow Gabrielson's ruling to stand and bring an end to what was a bad deal for the victims. In April 2016, then Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said that while the Liberal government under Prime Minister Trudeau would put pressure on the Catholic church to resume fundraising efforts towards to remainder of the $25 million, the federal government would not "make up the shortfall."


''R v Stanley'' (2018)

In ''R v Stanley'', presided by Saskatchewan Chief Justice Popescul, an all-white jury acquitted local Battleford,
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
farmer Gerald Stanley on February 9, 2018. The jury found that the death of Colten Boushie, from the
Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...
Red Pheasant First Nation occurred because of "
hang fire Hang fire is an unexpected delay between the triggering of a firearm and the ignition of the propellant. This failure was common in firearm actions that relied on open primer pans, due to the poor or inconsistent quality of the powder, although ...
". Clint Wuttunee, Chief of the Red Pheasant First Nation, called the verdict "absolutely perverse". Following the announcement of the acquittal, rallies and vigils took place across Canada. The rally at the Saskatoon court attracted 1,000 people who supported Boushie's family and were frustrated by the jury's decision. At a press conference on February 11, hosted by Saskatoon Tribal Council, Mayor Clark described the event as a "defining moment for this community and this country".


References


External links


Saskatchewan Court of King's Bench website
{{Courts of Canada Saskatchewan courts
Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...
1918 establishments in Canada Courts and tribunals established in 1918