HALIFAX—A few dozen Crown attorneys descended on the provincial legislature Wednesday morning shouldering signs that accuse the government of breaking promises and infringing on charter rights.

About 80 per cent of members of the Nova Scotia Crown Attorneys’ Association (NSCAA) voted in favour of a strike Monday night and announced their plans Tuesday — all less than a week after saying they’d been “blindsided” by a Liberal government bill that takes away their right to arbitration.

Bill 203 also proffers the right to strike but makes Crown prosecutors’ work an essential service, which legal experts have said would make the right to strike “meaningless.”

With the bill moving through the House, the Crowns say they have a common-law right to walk off the job, but Premier Stephen McNeil said he believes the strike is illegal. His government has filed for a court injunction to bring the strike to an end.

“They have stripped us of our rights and we are looking for justice,” said Perry Borden, president of NSCAA told reporters outside Province House. “We want to go back to work today, not tomorrow, but the government has forced us to take the position which we have.”

Borden was joined by about 30 other Crowns in a march around the legislature that started around 9:30 Wednesday morning. He said they would keep picketing until the province gets the message that the lawyers “are not backing down.”

The Crowns were negotiating a new contract with the province and had reached an impasse when Bill 203 was introduced. They wanted a 17 per cent wage increase, but the province was only prepared to give them seven per cent.

The premier has said the province can’t afford the Crowns’ proposal because it would set a new wage pattern for all public sector employees. Trade union lawyer Raymond Larkin testified at the legislature last week that the premier’s argument was flawed and the bill unconstitutional.

McNeil has repeatedly refused to disclose whether he has a written legal opinion supporting his defence of Bill 203, and maintained the same line of defence as the Crowns began their strike.

“If you followed me over the last number of years, we don’t treat public servants differently. We don’t go into one group and say ‘we’re going to give you a 17 per cent pay raise’ and then go to someone else and ‘by the way, you’re not worth that.’ How is that reasonable for anyone?

“I disagree wholeheartedly that this doesn’t set a pattern.”

Borden said there’s a misconception that Crown attorneys all make six-figure salaries but in fact, the starting salary in Nova Scotia is about $65,000.

“We’re looking for fair compensation for what we do,” he said. “Most importantly, we’re looking for the spirit of the agreement to be honoured and we’re looking to go back to work today.”

Rick Woodburn, president of the Canadian Association of Crown Counsel, said it’s important for Crowns in this province to stand up for their right to arbitration because of the precedent Nova Scotia could set for Crowns across the country.

He said every Crown attorney in Canada will be watching the progress of Bill 203. Crowns in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba are all negotiating contracts, according to Woodburn, and could face similar disputes.

“Governments in their areas are threatening almost the exact same thing. They’re threatening to come down and take away their rights just like they’re taking away their rights here.”

“The rest of the country is very interested in what’s happening here because if we back down, every government across the country will know that Crown attorneys will back down. But we are not going to do that. We’re not going to do it locally, we’re not going to do it regionally, and we’re not going to do it nationally.”

Martin Herschorn, the director of the Public Prosecution Service, lambasted the government last Friday when presenting his opinion of Bill 203 at the law amendments committee.

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He said the bill, if passed, would be a “disaster” for the public prosecution service and the province’s entire criminal justice system. He said he was worried about the province’s ability to recruit and retain Crown lawyers.

In that presentation, Herschorn said “a strike would bring mayhem to the courts. Public safety would be jeopardized.”

In an interview on Wednesday morning, Herschorn said it would be difficult to quantify the impact on the courts, because they don’t have an electronic case management system.

Herschorn said his office had switched into “crisis management mode” as soon as they were notified of the Crowns’ plans; they reached out to per diem Crown attorneys, who are private practice lawyers on a roster with the public prosecution service who fill in when the province’s approximately 100 Crowns are unavailable.

Cases involving personal injury — murders and sexual assaults — were still being seen, while most others would be seeking adjournment, he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Borden said he’d heard of at least six cases that had been dropped in Halifax courts.

“One charge dropped is one charge too many. It’s a serious day in Nova Scotia when charges are being dropped because crowns are not in courts and we’re on the streets or in the legislature when we want to be in court,” Borden told reporters.

He highlighted that he believed any dropped case was the fault of the government.

“If they want this stopped, right here today, all they have to do is pull Bill 203 from the floor and we can get back to business as usual. Give us back our rights.”

Borden said they were reviewing their options for responding to the injunction request, but were planning to be back on the picket lines Thursday morning.

As the House rose on Wednesday evening, Bill 203 was scheduled to return to the floor on Thursday afternoon.

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