June 26, 2020

The world has changed since March 11th, 2020, and the legal world in particular was put on hold since March 16th, 2020. The pandemic forced courthouses in Ontario to operate at a significantly reduced capacity. Trials and preliminary inquiries have all been suspended and most matters have been adjourned and re-adjourned again for 10 weeks. Only bail hearings and some few minor in custody matters have been proceeding, but all hearings and/or court appearances were done by phone or virtually by video conference. Recently, courts in Ontario have announced their anticipated re-opening date of July 6th, 2020. But what exactly will happen on that date?

A Limited Reopening

The re-opening will be a very limited one. Although we are all awaiting further details about how many individuals will be allowed inside the courthouse at any given time, as well as to what hygiene and health precautions will be installed and what requirements will be expected from individuals attending courthouses, we at least know that a limited number of courtrooms in some courthouses in the province will be open. In addition, the few courtrooms that will be operating will only be running trials and preliminary inquiries. All other matters that have been running, including bail, will continue to run virtually. This means that accused individuals, lawyers, witnesses, sureties will still be expected to either phone in or appear virtually.

In-Person Proceedings

The only types of proceedings where individuals will be expected to attend the courthouse physically starting July 6th, are trials and preliminary inquiries. It is anticipated, however, that the courthouse setting will be different from the pre-Covid time. Although the details are still unavailable, it is quite possible that individuals attending courthouses will be expected to wear masks. There is also supposed to be some measures to allow individuals inside the courthouse to respect social distancing norms.

But what if you have a trial scheduled on or after July 6th and you do not want to attend court for health reasons? What if a witness in your case does not want to attend court for the same reasons?

If you are determined to have your trial (assuming you did not resolve your matter) and you do not want to attend court, one option available is to run your trial virtually. It is actually possible to have zoom trials and if the accused consents, s/he may not attend court physically at all but may join in virtually. The whole trial can run virtually on Zoom. In a recent decision from the Superior Court of Justice, Justice Lemon ruled that the entire trial can run on Zoom. The name of the case in question cannot be revealed due to a publication ban under s. 486.4 of the Criminal Code of Canada , however, the case in question is a sex assault case where there are a few witnesses and the issues at trial are rather simple. You can read Justice Lemon’s ruling in In Re: Court File No. 19/578 2020 ONSC 3870 on the following link : https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/decisions/

What does that mean for you if you are charged with a criminal offence and you are expecting to have a trial after July 6th?

So far, your trial is expected to run in person. You, your lawyer, the witnesses and other justice system participants (such as the Crown, Judge and court clerks and reporters) are expected to attend in person. However, know that you also have the option of running your trial entirely on Zoom if you consent to that. As such, one change that resulted from the pandemic is the added option of having criminal trials and many other criminal proceedings run virtually, which is an option that either was not available pre-Covid or was significantly restricted.

One new thing that the criminal world witnessed today is the delivery live on YouTube of the Superior Court decision of Theriault. This too is a significant change because court decisions were not broadcasted live in Canadian Courts. Whether today’s example of a live delivery of a decision will become the norm is yet to be determined.

May 23, 2020

The Ontario Court of Justice (OCJ) issued an updated notice to the profession yesterday. The Court has already announced that it will be extending its closure date to July 6th instead of the previously announced June date. This notice can be found on the following link : https://www.ontariocourts.ca/ocj/covid-19/

But what does that mean for you basically?

If you have a criminal matter and you had a court date scheduled anytime between March 16th and July 3rd, 2020, your matter will be adjourned for 10 weeks. You can find the exact return date in a table on the OCJ website on the above-cited link (again the link is here: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/ocj/covid-19/)

Only Urgent Matters At The Moment

As it is right now, no trials are proceeding in the OCJ. Only urgent matters such as bails and some in custody matters have been going on but on a remote basis, either by phone or video conferencing. There is still no word as to when and how trials will be proceeding.

Other Limitations

What is also not clear at this point is if courts start reopening to the public, how many people will be allowed inside the court house at any given time? Even though many parts of the country are re-opening, there are still restrictions on the number of people who are allowed to be together at the same place. This of course will be a challenge for courts because any given criminal trial requires the presence of at least 6 individuals : the Judge, a court reporter, a court clerk, a Crown attorney, a defence lawyer and the most important person of course, the accused person. That is at minimum. There is also of course the investigative officer and the witnesses. All these individuals are required for one trial. Yet courthouses typically have multiple trials going on at the same time and on the same day. The issue then will be, how many trials will courthouses be allowed to run on a given day? Will there be a combination of remote trials and in person trials? How will the decision be made? On what basis will some trials be made remotely and others in person?

There are still many questions and not too many clear answers for now. What is clear though is that once the courthouses will re-open, we will be dealing with a completely different landscape. There will probably be a limit as to how many individuals will be allowed inside a courthouse at any given time and many of the proceedings that used to be done in court, will switch to a remote setting.

It is thus very important to keep track of the updates about the court by regularly checking the court’s website.

March 28, 2020

Please take note that the Ontario Court of Justice updated today its protocol regarding COVID-19. You may find the most current version on the following link:

COVID-19 Notices and Information

Message from Chief Justice Maisonneuve re COVID-19 (Updated March 18, 2022) Effective April 4, there will be increased access to in-person proceedings. While the Court can now accommodate more in-person proceedings, it is also committed to continuing the use of … Continue reading

Ontario Court of Justice

If you are currently facing criminal charges, we encourage you to keep an eye on the court’s website for all the latest information.

March 24, 2020

It’s been two weeks since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (March 11th, 2020). That declaration dramatically altered our lives as social distancing is now our new reality. Schools are closed, no more gatherings, sports events are cancelled, many individuals lost their jobs and those who are still working are working remotely or on a reduced capacity. But what about people who are arrested or who are in jail? How does COVID-19 affect their lives and liberties?

As we all know by now, almost every government on the planet is urging their people to practice social distancing as a way to flatten the curve of the spread of the Corona virus. Given that this virus is highly infectious and transmitted by touch or by respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes it is very important to keep a distance of at least 2 meters from other individuals. As one can imagine this is difficult to comply with when you are living in a jail. Sadly, the jails are packed and do not provide optimal sanitary conditions. There is no soap, no hand sanitizers in jails and it is difficult to isolate each and every inmate in protection of COVID-19. This means that inmates in jails are at a very high risk of getting sick should the virus reach the jails. It is important to remember that many individuals in jail are there on remand, waiting for a trial or a preliminary inquiry and are thus still presumed to be innocent . No matter what you think about a person who is facing a criminal charge, that person is still presumed innocent and is still a human being, who has human rights and should be treated with the respect owed to every human being. Inmates’ health and safety should be considered just like that of any other human being.

Does COVID-19 Have Any Implications On Bail?

The courts are aware of the unusual situation that the planet is going through right now and are taking into account COVID-19 in their determination of release on bail. Many inmates who are facing criminal charges that do not constitute a threat to public safety are being released given the current situation. Thus, some courts have been open to releasing inmates in light of COVID-19 and the risk of exposure to the virus in the jails. The ground on which the release will be done is the tertiary ground. The tertiary ground is one of the grounds on which a court may order a person’s release on bail. In Canadian criminal law, a court can order a person released on one of the three grounds that are listed in section 515(10) of the Criminal Code . The first ground relates to the accused’ attendance at his court appearances, the second ground relates to public safety and finally the tertiary ground relates to the public confidence in the administration of justice. In bail cases in the time of COVID-19, the tertiary ground can tip the scale in favour of release even when the primary and secondary grounds alone would favour detention. This does not mean that bail will necessarily be granted, (after all, if an accused person is considered to constitute a threat to public safety, it is unlikely the person will be released) however, there are better chances, given the current climate of being released on bail.

March 21, 2020

As the situation of our country and that of the world continue to evolve as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of fear and anxiety has risen dramatically. We are all anxious and worried right now and if you are facing criminal charges, you are dealing with a double uncertainty : the uncertainty of when life will get back to normal and the uncertainty of what will happen to your charge.

Your Rights

In our previous blog post (from yesterday), we indicated how the Ontario Court of Justice has extended its closure until May 29th. This of course causes frustration to many people facing criminal charges because unless your matter is urgent, it will not proceed right now. Not dealing with a pending charge can be extremely stressful. Usually when a person is facing a criminal charge all they want to do is just deal with that charge and know what will happen to it so they can then continue to live their lives. This right now is not an option. If there is, however, some kind of comfort, it is in knowing that all accused persons (except for the in-custody ones) are more or less in the same boat. Most matters are on hold right now and the courts are mostly all operating remotely and at a reduced capacity.

There are, however, some things that you can still do to help your matter:

• you can still retain a lawyer to help you deal with your matter: the good news about the courts being closed is that lawyers, just like the rest of the population, should be practising social distancing. Many lawyers are working from home and that means that they have more time to answer your calls. So now is the time to call a lawyer and to retain one. If you need legal representation for a criminal matter, you can call our office at (613) 421-1589 and we will be happy to serve you (remotely)
• if you are released and are on conditions, this is the perfect time to make sure that you respect these conditions, if you do not want to add more charges to the ones you are already facing. Know that the police are still charging individuals who commit crimes. Just because there is a current situation going on and things are different, it does not mean that the police are not charging individuals. So if you have conditions that prohibit you from being at a specific address, social distancing is your savior. Stay home and do not breach. We are all now collectively living in some form of house arrest
• keep following the latest news about the courts by visiting their websites as their schedules will depend on how the virus situation is evolving
• finally, in order to reduce your stress and anxiety, try to do calming things like listening to music, meditating, exercising and connecting virtually with people you love. There are many resources online to keep your spirits up and so many great podcasts you can listen to. Here are some recommendations :
• You can heal your life
• The mind bodygreen podcast
• Then percent happier
• On purpose (by Jay Shetty)

If you have questions regarding a criminal matter you are facing in Ontario, do not hesitate to call us at (613) 421-1589. We will be more than happy to serve you and to represent you. Also, you can get in touch with us through our website and send us your questions. We will answer within 24 hours.

March 20, 2020

I hope you are doing well in these crazy times. The world has changed so much in a span of days and it is continuing to change. Nobody knows how long this new reality will last. In addition to the stress related to the Covid-19 situation, you may be experiencing stress and uncertainty regarding a criminal matter that you are facing. Just like with the virus situation that is constantly changing, so is the situation with the courts.

Ontario Court Of Justice

Though the Superior Court of Justice has closed down (for most matters), that wasn’t the case for the Ontario Court of Justice that was still open and operating, albeit on a more reduced capacity. Today, however, the Ontario Court of Justice announced some changes and will be mostly closed until May 29th. You can find the most recent announcement on the Court’s Twitter account or on its website.

Subject To Change

Given that the situation is constantly changing, this announcement is subject to change. So make sure to keep visiting their website or Twitter accounts to keep an eye on the most up to date schedule.

Ontario Court of Justice Twitter post today:

Ontario Court of Justice Website: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/ocj/

Superior Court of Justice Twitter post:

Superior Court of Justice Website: https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/

Please visit the above websites frequently for the most recent updates as the posts are subject to change given how fluid the situation still is.

Stay safe and healthy everyone!