Canadian Lawyer

w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m A p r i l 2 0 1 4 11 payment itself. "Given what we are called upon to do everyday, such emergency cir- cumstances are not going away. There is a massive, untenable gap here in our benefits coverage," he wrote in a letter to members. During the October 2013 board meet- ing, Rogers told his colleagues he didn't go to them at the time for confidential- ity reasons. He also said he believed the ministry should cover the costs because "it was a workplace issue and the govern- ment's moral responsibility." The minutes of a board of directors meeting suggests Rogers had considered "what happened" to another Crown attorney who died in the middle of a high-profile inquest. For Crowns, who have always dealt with difficult and tragic cases, the work has become tougher with the increased use of scientific and wiretap evidence. "The fact of it is that you see an increase in the amount of evidence. It puts a lot of stress on the Crown system and the defence side as well," says Moustacalis. Unless an exist- ing health-care benefits package covers it, Moustacalis agrees the government should take care of costs associated with mental- health treatment for Crowns. "With respect to treatment for mental- health issues, the ministry does not com- ment on matters pertaining to individual employees," said ministry spokesman Brendan Crawley. But he said the ministry takes mental illness seriously. "The min- istry is committed to the health and well- being of Crown attorneys and all employ- ees, and provides a range of benefits, pro- grams, and services intended to maintain their health and wellness, including their mental health," he said. "Wellness has been a recurring theme and topic of formal dis- cussion at annual continuing professional development conferences for all Crowns across the province," Crawley added. According to Moustacalis, the issue of mental illness among Crowns came into focus in the 1980s after a senior prosecu- tor, Frank Hoffman, committed suicide. Other former Crowns agree the work can be stressful. Before he became a criminal defence lawyer, Calvin Barry worked 70 hours a week as a prosecutor. Before he left the Crown attorney's office in 2004, he also served as the treasurer of the association. In terms of mental-health resources, "there wasn't a heck of a lot" at the time, he said. To cope with the stress of prosecuting murders, he used to run. "You just had to try to cope. There were periods when peo- ple were getting burnt out. It's something that the government probably has to have a look at: what they can do to make sure that there is no burnout and people are able to cope with issues that occur when you're doing that kind of high-stress, high-tension work," he said. — Yt s teve Glavicich operates a success- ful food truck and catering busi- ness in Calgary. Like a lot of small business operators he encounters the occasional dispute with suppliers, com- petitors, and even a would-be investor. Over the last year or two Glavicich has turned for help to Alberta's Provincial Court, Civil Division — popularly known as small claims court — and has success- fully represented himself. Glavicich is smart and articulate (in English and French) not to mention a great chef who has appeared on several TV food shows. But he is no law- yer. However, he has taught himself to navi- gate the system. While he hopes to avoid further legal entanglements he confidently alberta out to improve costly, slow civil courts WeSt I n 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled an Alberta man charged with second-degree murder — William Brydges — had been improperly denied by police his s. 10(b) Charter right "to retain and instruct counsel without delay." So they upheld his acquittal at trial. As a consequence all Canadian provinces now have an arrangement whereby a person under arrest who does not have their own lawyer can phone for free legal advice before being questioned by police. The lawyers who answer those calls are known as Brydges Duty Counsel. in Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and N.W.T., the service is provided by each province's legal aid. The man with the contract to serve all four jurisdictions is the Saskatoon-born, Victoria-based lawyer ron Dumonceaux. He has contracts with about 25 lawyers throughout the region. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, 364 days a year in as many as 112 languages, those lawyers, including Dumonceaux, field about 50,000 calls from people under arrest who need immediate legal advice. Dumonceaux accepted his first contract in 1992 while still in Saskatoon. That initial contract was just for the province of Saskatchewan. He started out with a few other lawyers but for a time he was the only lawyer in the province answering the Brydges Counsel line. "Yeah, i had some long days" he recalls. Over time, he took on additional contracts in Alberta, B.C., and N.W.T. He also joined a practice in Victoria. "it's relatively easy to do," he says of the Brydges work, "but it's also relatively easy to screw up." He calculates he has testified more than a hundred times in cases in which questions have been raised relating to the advice given. Suzanne polkosnik, vice president of representational services at legal Aid Alberta, says the Brydges Counsel service is "critically important to providing justice to people who have been arrested and detained." While polkosnik says "there is always room for improvement" with any service, "we feel people are getting the advice they need, when they need it." — GeoFF eLLwAND writerlaw@gmail.com uNder arrest? No lawYer? who You goNNa Call? Continued on page 12 n 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled an Alberta man charged with second-degree

• Cover