Two-thirds of Manitoba's Crown prosecutors meet criteria for PTSD, anxiety or depression, survey suggests
CBC
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.
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.
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