Ministry of Attorney General
Independence of Crown Counsel
Impartiality and fairness are fundamental to a democracy governed by the rule of law, where everyone is equal under the law. In our justice system, police, prosecutors and judges make their decisions independently of each other and all outside influence to ensure a fair and impartial criminal justice system.
In British Columbia, prosecutors, known as Crown counsel, make charge decisions and prosecute criminal cases impartially and independently. The independence of B.C.'s Prosecution Service – the Criminal Justice Branch of the Ministry of Attorney General – is embodied in provincial legislation called the Crown Counsel Act. The assistant deputy attorney General of the Criminal Justice Branch has independent authority for the conduct and supervision of all criminal prosecutions.
To protect the independence of Crown counsel from political influence, the Crown Counsel Act limits the authority of the Attorney General to direct the actions of Crown counsel. While the Attorney General oversees criminal prosecutions generally in the province, Crown counsel have a broad and generous area of unfettered discretion in criminal prosecutions which ought not to be interfered with by the Attorney General. In addition, while the Attorney General is a member of cabinet, they are also the chief law enforcement officer in the province. In this role, they occasionally possess information of a confidential nature that must not be disclosed to their cabinet colleagues to protect the integrity of an investigation and/or prosecution and to avoid any appearance of cabinet interference, political or otherwise, with criminal prosecution decisions.
Prosecutorial independence is further protected by the special prosecutor process established by Section 7 of the Crown Counsel Act. The head of B.C.'s prosecution service – the assistant deputy attorney general of the Criminal Justice Branch – has sole authority to appoint a lawyer from the private bar as a special prosecutor in cases where there is a perceived or real improper influence.
If the Attorney General or the deputy attorney general wish to intervene in a prosecution decision, he or she must do so in writing and the intervention must be published in the B.C. Gazette, the official public legal record of notices by government. The independence of the prosecutorial service is fundamental to maintaining public confidence in the integrity of the criminal justice system.
