Two-thirds of Manitoba's Crown prosecutors meet criteria for PTSD, anxiety or depression, survey suggests
85% of Manitoba prosecutors surveyed say their workload is unmanageable
WARNING: This story contains information about suicide.
Sixty-five per cent of Manitoba's criminal Crown attorneys who responded to a survey meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression, their union says.
Sixteen out of 150 prosecutors surveyed had contemplated suicide in the year prior, according to the survey commissioned by the prosecutors' union, the Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys (MACA) and the province's Crown Law division.
"It's heartbreaking, obviously, to hear that someone has sort of hit that point," said union spokesperson Ben Wickstrom, who works as a Crown prosecutor.
"I hope that they find the resources they need. And my door is an open door," he said.
The survey was done over three weeks in April and May 2023 and got responses from 150 Crown prosecutors (the lawyers who present the case against an accused in a criminal trial), 97 Crown prosecutor support staff, 56 civil Crown counsel and 25 civil support staff. It had an overall 87 per cent response rate from all employees.
Results of the survey were obtained by CBC News from a source, whom CBC is not identifying because it could harm their job. CBC did not see the confidential report. The union representing Crown attorneys confirmed the figures.
The goal of the survey was to obtain data about the morale and mental health of employees in the Crown Law division of Manitoba Justice.
'Macho culture'
Among the criminal prosecutors who responded to the survey, 85 per cent said they face unmanageable workloads.
Wickstrom said there has long been "a bit of a macho culture in the legal profession that we just sort of suck it up, and that you just pile on the work."
"And that's sort of what it means to be a lawyer, is to be stressed out and to work really long hours on really difficult things," Wickstrom said.
Among prosecutors who responded, 94 per cent said they experienced a high level of trauma from work and nearly two-thirds were experiencing burnout.
Around the time staff were being surveyed in 2023, the prosecutor's union filed a grievance about heavy caseloads. The grievance is scheduled to be heard by an arbitrator in October 2025.
The union said there were 99 homicides in Manitoba in 2024, more than double the number a decade earlier, which puts increasing pressure on prosecutors' workload.
Culture shifting
The survey asked whether staff "feel valued by the government," and only three per cent of responding prosecutors agreed. Similarly, just 12 per cent agreed that their workplace prioritizes employees.
Asked if they're able to "communicate suggestions or concerns without fear of negative repercussions," 38 per cent of the prosecutors surveyed agreed.
More than half — 52 per cent — said their career would suffer if they disclosed mental health issues.
"I think unfortunately, people still feel that their career will suffer … if they talk too openly about their mental health," Wickstrom said, although a culture shift is starting to happen.
"There's still a stigma associated with sort of self-reporting that you have mental health issues."
In evaluating workload, prosecutors indicated their work stress was increased by staff shortages — in part due to unfilled positions, but even with full staff, there aren't enough Crown prosecutors, they said.
When it comes to income, only seven percent of prosecutors said they're adequately compensated for the work they do.
Asked whether they have "the capacity to carry out" their work "as expected," 25 per cent of prosecutors agreed they did, while the response for civil Crown counsel was 50 per cent.
Province hiring more Crowns
Survey responses from staff in the civil Crown Law service about work-related stress tended to not be as severe as those from criminal Crown attorneys.
The Crown attorneys' union says the survey was designed by consultants Dr. Lisa Kitt and Dr. Nathalie Gagnon, who have experience examining high-stress workplaces and trauma exposure.
In a Jan. 10 news release, the union criticized the provincial government for having "failed to take meaningful action to address the workload problem for Crown attorneys in Manitoba."
Justice Minister Matt Wiebe puts the blame on the Progressive Conservative government that was in power before the NDP defeated the Tories in the October 2023 election.
"[The survey is] such a clear indictment of how the previous government treated our Crowns, how they treated our justice system, how they disrespected those who do this work every single day," Wiebe said in an interview.
"We've taken incredibly solid steps in terms of addressing the issues when it comes to workload, adding more prosecutors, adding more Crowns, adding support staff and … court clerks," Wiebe said.
The NDP government has increased pay and is addressing concerns around workplace culture and mental health of Crown attorneys, he said.
Since taking office, they've hired 35 new Crown attorneys and 20 new support staff for the Crowns, Wiebe said.
Of the 35 new Crown attorneys, 22 are prosecutors and 13 are civil Crown attorneys in the province's Legal Services Branch, a spokesperson for the minister said.
But the Crown attorneys' association says the government hasn't done enough to improve Manitoba's Crown Law division.
"While the report has led to some efforts to change how the organization functions, the fundamental issues still have not been addressed," the Crown union says in a document summarizing the findings of the staff survey.
"The workload problems have led to low morale and an organization that is struggling to operate as effectively as the public deserves."
The minister said his government has established a workplace well-being and culture committee with management to address challenges for Crown attorneys quickly.
"There's more work to do, but we're working together with MACA to address these," Wiebe said. He has a meeting scheduled with the union on Tuesday.
Mental illness 'stigmatized'
Wiebe was asked about the number of prosecutors who said in the survey that they'd contemplated suicide in the past year.
"It just gives us even more impetus to work with them, to listen to them and to make the changes that we've already started to make and we're going to continue to make," he said.
"We respect the work that our Crowns do so, so much. And we know it's difficult work and we know that it's important work."
WATCH | Crown prosecutors report mental health issues, unmanageable workloads:
Mental health issues in the legal profession have been the subject of numerous publications in recent years, including a 2022 essay by retired Ontario chief justice George Strathy, who worked in law for close to 50 years.
Mental illness is "stigmatized" in the legal profession, Strathy wrote in his essay "The Litigator and Mental Health."
For too long, mental health challenges "are incongruous with a successful career in litigation," he wrote.
"We have internalized the myth that only the invincible are successful. We need to call out these myths — not only because they are false, but also because they send the wrong message about who 'belongs' in litigation," he wrote.
The myths "cause terrible suffering" for people who believe they don't measure up to the professional ideal, he wrote.
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With files from Joanne Levasseur