Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Chair Senator Bob Runciman speaks after releasing the committee's final report on court delays in Canada during a news conference in Ottawa, Wednesday June 14, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - The Liberal government needs to give judges new tools to help courts deal with cases that take too long to get to trial, to better prevent those accused of sexual assault or murder from going free on a technicality, a Senate committee says.

"We're saying for very serious cases, this is a shock to the conscience of the community," said Sen. George Baker, a Senate Liberal and deputy chair of the standing Senate committee on legal and constitutional affairs.

"This brings the administration of justice into disrepute in the eyes of the Canadian public."

The Supreme Court's groundbreaking Jordan decision last summer set out a new framework for determining whether a criminal trial has been unreasonably delayed to the point where it has violated an accused's charter rights.

The high court cited a "culture of complacency" as part of the problem, and imposed a ceiling of 30 months for a case to make its way through superior courts, and 18 months for provincial courts.

Wednesday's report points out that a stay of proceedings is currently the only remedy for a trial that goes on too long, and recommends reduced sentences or the awarding of costs as other solutions.

The senators recommend Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould refer those proposed changes to the Supreme Court to determine their constitutionality.

"We have looked at those remedies and we're going to continue to work with the provinces and territories to see if in fact those will contribute substantially towards alleviating delays," Wilson-Raybould said Wednesday.

The Supreme Court ruling came with a transitional measure for cases already in the system, although a dissenting minority opinion argued the new time limits could lead to thousands of prosecutions being tossed out.

There have been some high-profile examples of charges being stayed due to lengthy delays, but research out of Dalhousie University this spring found that overall, judges were either granting or denying those requests for the same reasons as they would have under the old framework.

Baker said that did not reassure him, because the clock is also ticking on cases that began after the Jordan decision. "There is going to be tens of thousands of cases thrown out unless there's some changes made."

Conservative Sen. Bob Runciman acknowledged one of the reasons for recommending alternative remedies is that the committee is concerned the problems will not be fixed quickly enough to prevent that from happening.

"We're talking about a pretty big ship here that is going to take some time to turn around," said Runciman, chair of the committee.

The "culture of complacency" isn't solely a justice system problem, he added.

"I think you can apply that to governments as well with respect to the way they failed to respond to this over the decades, really."

Many observers are hoping the high court will clarify its controversial ruling — especially when it comes to how judges should deal with these transitional cases — on Friday, when it delivers a decision on a drug case involving unreasonable delays.

The case involves James Cody, a man accused of drug trafficking, who was granted a stay by a judge due to unreasonable delays before his trial began.

The Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal overturned that decision, but Cody appealed to the Supreme Court.

The Crown is arguing that if prosecutors had known that the way the courts handle delays was going to change, they might have done things differently.

The counsel representing Cody, meanwhile, argued that the delay would have been considered unreasonable even before the Jordan decision.

The 205-page report came with 50 recommendations aimed at cutting back on backlogs in the courts, including by having the federal government fill a judicial vacancy the same day a Superior Court judge retires.

Other priority recommendations include:

— Impressing upon judges the need to get better at case management, including by imposing deadlines;

— Better health services for people struggling with mental health issues, including addictions;

— Requiring full disclosure of evidence prior to trial;

— Cutting down on unnecessary court appearances by using computers to deal with procedural issues.

The Liberal government has said that in addition to appointing more judges, it is looking at other policy areas for possible solutions, including eliminating some mandatory minimum penalties, changes to bail, preliminary inquiries and the reclassification of offences.

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News from © The Canadian Press, 2017