THE HONOURABLE ALLYSON MAYNARD-GIBSON

ATTORNEY GENERAL AND MINISTER OF LEGAL AFFAIRS

AT THE

TRADE AND LEGAL AID CONFERENCE

HOSTED BY THE EUGENE DUPUCH LAW SCHOOL

FRIDAY, 7TH JULY, 2006

BRITISH COLONIAL HILTON

      Principal of the Eugene Dupuch Law School, faculty, distinguished guests and students. I thank you for the invitation to address your seminar and I was very pleased to note the theme for today – “Delivering Legal Services to Ensure Equal Rights and Justice”.

      I am especially happy to see that the Law School is causing students and society to consider seriously these concepts essential to confidence in our legal system. I might add that it is fitting that these concepts are being examined by you at the anniversary of our Independence, which gave birth to our Constitution, our declaration of our identity…of who we are as a people.

      Your topic raises concepts of equality and justice.

      When I looked up “equality” in the Oxford English Dictionary, I found, “being equal”. When I looked up “equal”, I found, “having same rights or status”. When I looked in the Concordance in my Bible, THE guidebook for Christianity, I did not find “equal”. Although as we are all made in God’s image and likeness, I think that it can be fairly assumed that according to Christianity, we are all equal, at least in God’s eyes.

      When I looked up “justice” in the Oxford English Dictionary, I found “authority exercised in maintenance of right”. I found many of references to justice in my concordance.  Some were: “do not deny justice to your poor people in their law suits” Ex 23v6.

      At Ez 22v29 I found condemnation of oppression of poor and needy and mistreatment of the alien, denying them justice.

      At Amos 5v24, I found Martin Luther King’s “let justice roll on like a river”.

      And at Proverbs 21v15 I found, “when justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers”.

      Please note that equal evokes status. It is passive… a state of being. No one can give it to you. You already have it.

      On the other hand, the concept of justice evokes some action. You need to do something to get justice or administer justice.

      The ideal of equal rights and justice is embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which declaration is incorporated into a number of other international legal instruments and into the Constitution of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

      You will recall many of these rights.  The right to life, liberty and security of the person; the right to equality before the law; the right to an effective remedy before a competent tribunal for acts violating the fundamental rights; the right by a person charged with a penal offense to be presumed innocent until proved guilty; the right not be subjected to arbitrary arrest; the right to freedom of assembly and association; and so on.

      Within a community, the citizenry expects that the government, which has a mandate to govern, will secure the effective recognition, observance, and implementation of these universal rights.   So, what do we do in The Bahamas to acknowledge at all people have the “same rights or status” and to demonstrate and give access to the concepts of justice?

“Do not deny justice to your poor people in their law suits” Ex 23v6.

      In The Bahamas, the government recognizes that the legal services that are provided must be adequate and sufficient to ensure the protection of these rights.

      These legal services include:

the making and implementation of laws by the legislature to create and preserve the fundamental rights of all persons within The Bahamas;
the provision of appropriate physical infrastructure, that is, courts, police stations and a prison which is adequately staffed and maintained to a good and humane standard.
        The adequate delivery of legal services necessarily includes the provision of qualified judges, qualified counsel and attorneys, and systems which simplify the procedure for civil litigation and accelerate the process of criminal prosecution.

      A government   may make and implement laws; a government may provide suitable infrastructure; however, if the citizen does not have access to the courts, and redress within the courts, the entire system is flawed.

      Hence, the government appointed a legal aid commission whose mandate was to advise the government on the efficacy of establishing legal aid clinics throughout the country, to provide assistance to those citizens who otherwise would not be able to afford legal counsel.  The government eagerly anticipates the final report of that commission.

In addition, the government, as a matter of policy, has extended the crown appointed brief to persons charged with serious indictable offences.   In your deliberations, I invite you to seriously consider the flaws in and future of this policy. At the moment, a serious impediment in getting serious criminal matters to trial in 2 years revolves around accused persons changing the lawyer that they have chosen and retained more than once during a trial, giving rise to serious delays. Many are of the view that this assertion of an alleged right to have the lawyer of your own choice is an example of “playing the system” and is rather an abuse of the system.

      Perhaps it is time for us to expand the system of legal aid so that the State, in these serious matters, itself having an interest in swift justice, through a system of legal aid, enables the accused to be defended by a highly competent lawyer.  This policy would give the accused access to a highly competent lawyer while acknowledging the right of victims and other law abiding citizens to have these matters swiftly tried.

      The importance of access to justice was appropriately captured in the following statement by United States Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell, Jr., who said that:  “equal justice under law is not just captioned on the façade of the Supreme Court building.  It is perhaps the most inspiring ideal of our society … it is fundamental that justice should be the same, in substance and availability, without regard to economic status.”

      This statement by Justice Powell embodies the rationale underlying the concept of equal access to justice. Justice must be for all, not just for those who can afford it.

Ez 22v29 condemnation of oppression of poor and needy and mistreatment of the alien, denying them justice.

      In the matter of legal aid, we have partially considered access to justice by the poor and the needy. The matter of access to justice by the alien of very much a matter of interest.

      You might agree that it appears that the manner in which the government of The Bahamas (through several administrations) deals with illegal immigrants depends on the nationality of the illegal immigrant. Haitian illegal immigrants may be and are swiftly deported. As was seen this year, Cuban illegal immigrants, on the other hand, may stay in the Detention Centre for many months and in some cases more than a year. We have been told that this apparent discrepancy exists because Cuba demands certain proof of citizenship and other matters before its citizens may be repatriated. International law demands that no person be stateless. You should be aware of this issue as future lawyers and leaders. You should have the facts about the conditions at the Detention Centre. You should know that your tax payer dollars have gone towards significant improvements and that your taxpayer dollar is wasted when corruption or negligence lead to or enable the escape of detainees. You should know that governments notwithstanding their best intentions are sometimes hindered in carrying out the mandate of equal treatment by the lack of cooperation of other nations. You should know about it and your voice should be heard in the solution.

Amos 5v24, “let justice roll on like a river”.

      I look at this in terms of access to justice and services. All people should have the same access to legal services. The system of legal aid proposed above may take us nearer to that ideal than the one that exists today.

      One of the challenges in achieving equal access to justice in this country is the reality that The Bahamas is an archipelagic nation, extending approximately 50 miles off the coast  of Florida and to within 60 miles off the coast of Cuba and covering an area of approximately 100,000 square   miles.

      Let’s look at access to services essential to rights and justice, such as the services provided by the Registrar General. You know that the services provided by the Registrar General are needed by every Bahamian. When you are born you must have a birth certificate; if you get married, you need a marriage certificate; your conveyances and mortgages must be recorded if you wish the public to have legal notice of your ownership; when you do business you might incorporate a company or register your business name and when you die your family will need a death certificate. The government as a part of its e-government initiative has made it possible for these services to be obtained in communities across The Bahamas. It will no longer be necessary to fly to Nassau to obtain these services if you live in a Family Island. And if you want to do searches or obtain certified copies of documents, you will be able to go to your local Administrator or library or school or from your home request and pay for these services on line. This is equal access to justice.

      Another example of equal access to justice is the government’s “Laws on Line” project due to be launched this month. All of the laws of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas, updated, will be available on line. So either at home or in your community you can find the law on a particular matter of interest.

Proverbs 21v15, “when justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers”.

      We are committed to the following maxim:  “swiftly caught, swiftly tried, and swiftly punished.”

      The Swift Justice initiative began as a pilot project.  It involves collaboration between the institutions and agencies within the criminal justice, including the police, the probation department, the courts, the prison and of course the Attorney General’s office. We are working together in a seamless fashion.  The baton of information is passing swiftly from hand to hand until we reach the ultimate goal – justice for the victims and their families and for society as a whole. We meet twice monthly and this week the Freeport Swift Justice team met with the Nassau team by way of video uplink.

      We will also involve victims and their families, as has been demonstrated by the announcement of a Ministerial Advisory Committee chaired by Mrs. Laurie Patricia Bethell.

      The Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions has produced statistics to show the positive effects of Swift Justice. The Police have said and the Courts have demonstrated that Swift Justice is working. We can not undo many years of problems overnight. Rest assured though that we are assiduously tackling these problems. The fear of crime will be reduced. Crime will be reduced. Our noble Bahamian heritage of law, order and peace will be restored.

      I thank you for your attention.