IN an effort to increase the willingness of Canadian companies to invest in Guyana, Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. Nicole Giles, has expressed her Government’s willingness to plug some Cdn$750,000 into strengthening Guyana’s Judicial System. The announcement was made at the Attorney General’s Chambers, Carmichael Street, where Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams was paid a courtesy visit by the outgoing Canadian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. Nicole Giles.
“Her Excellency has indicated to me that Canada has, in what is really unprecedented, approved a Cdn$750,000 development grant to us, to look at certain aspects to improving [the] justice system in Guyana,” Williams disclosed to reporters following the meeting.
For her part, the Canadian High Commissioner said the project comes with collaboration from the Justice Education Society of British Columbia, a Canadian Non-Governmental Organisation working in the area of strengthening justice systems.
Dr. Giles expects the reforms to target the whole Judicial and Penal systems from Police, to Prosecutors, and even Judges in dealing with crime scenes, case processing, and verdicts. The Ambassador noted the programme will be implemented with the assistance of the Offices of the Attorney General, and the Chancellor of the Judiciary, “in the next couple of months.”
Programmes of that nature would customarily be implemented through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), but Dr. Giles said that body was dissolved some two years ago following an Act in Canada’s Parliament to incorporate the interests of CIDA into Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and Trade.
The Canadian envoy recognised this effort by her Government to blend international policy, development programmes, and commercial interests with the development of justice sectors throughout the hemisphere, which “contributes to the interest of Canadian companies to invest in a country like Guyana.”
This country, according to Giles, was considered for the grant because “we believe that in Guyana, there are strong opportunities to make a difference to improve the justice system.”
“I think everybody accepts that the impunity rates are not acceptable at this point in time, and there is also very strong will on behalf of the Police and the Prosecutors, the Judiciary, and the Courts, to try to address that,” Giles further clarified.
Meanwhile, AG Williams, for his part, is optimistic that the grant and the programme would assist Guyana’s justice system to relieve the backlog of cases over the years.
Other items on the agenda for that high level meeting included Guyana’s expected passage of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill, which would further increase Guyana’s investment prospects by ensuring the loyalty of the country against funding terrorist organisations.

By Derwayne Wills