Provincial court announces reopenings

As COVID-19 restrictions are being eased, the provincial court, which hears most of the court cases in B.C., has announced a schedule for the reopening of courtrooms and the resumption of trials.

The court said that as of Monday, 40 in-person trial courts were available around B.C. in addition to “virtual” courts that have been in place since regular court operations were suspended in March over concerns arising from the pandemic.

It said that after July 3 the court will resume all previously scheduled in-person proceedings in all criminal, family and small-claims matters.

“People in B.C. are entitled to expect that their courts are open, there is timely access to justice and the rule of law is upheld, ” Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie said in a message posted on the court’s website. “They are also entitled to know that these will be safe courts. That is why the courts have taken the time necessary to open safe, accessible courtrooms.”

After operations were suspended in March, the court adjourned trials except those deemed urgent by a judge with hearings that did proceed being conducted by phone or video conferencing. Procedures were then developed to expand the types of cases that could be heard to include less urgent matters with mandatory pretrial conferences being held for most adult and youth criminal trials and preliminary hearings, as well as for family and small-claims cases, said the court.

Some technology adopted during the pandemic will continue. A video-conferencing platform that is being used for all criminal pretrial conferences is also expected to be used for all bail hearings in Surrey.