Newmarket Criminal Lawyers

Newmarket Courthouse Expansion

The Newmarket Courthouse, also known as the Central East Court House, provides many court services including Civil, Criminal, Enforcement, Small Claims, Family Law Information Centre (FLIC), Crown Attorney’s Office, Victim and Witness Services, and many more. Because of the great number of cases that are held in this courthouse yearly, it had been criticized by many who claim that the facility is in need of expansion.

Ontario’s Attorney General applied for an expansion of the 165,000 square-foot facility after years of pressure from the Newmarket Courthouse. The Attorney General’s office had come under ridicule for refusing to add more courtrooms and staff despite the constant increase in demands placed upon the facility which serves the entire York Region.

The original approach to expansion was not a physical expansion but instead the Ministry created a program called the Justice on Target program. This program was launched here, and in other centres, in a bid to diminish the number of days it takes to complete a case by 30 per cent.

Despite the fact that Chris Bentley (former Attorney General) relentlessly insisted that the program was effective, an analysis by the York Region Media Group proved it to be otherwise. It actually proved that the pace had slowed down.

Because of this decline, they did not cease the program but they simply considered the original suggestion which was to expand the physical size of the building, which included a 17000 square-foot single story addition and landscape work.

The Site Plan Review Committee plans to build the addition at the northeast corner of the building. Along with the expansion will be the addition of new staff.

Aurora MPP Frank Klees has argued for expansion for years and said the move will not only benefit Newmarket, but the entire justice system in Canada.