Daily Ontario court dockets will now be posted on website

You can now search for your next court date online, thanks to a new website the province announced Wednesday.

OntarioCourtDates.ca now allows anyone to search by courthouse for appearances in the Ontario Court of Justice and the Superior Court of Justice for the next day.

The “dockets” — a list of names and courtrooms for any given day — are normally posted at courthouses, but until now the public had to attend in person or call to check on a date.

The online dockets will be posted daily at 4:30 p.m. and are listed alphabetically by courthouse.

The information includes the scheduled time of the court appearance, the room where it will take place, at what stage the proceeding is now, and the file number associated with the case. The cases listed include matters in criminal, civil, family, bankruptcy, small claims and divisional courts. The Ministry of the Attorney General hailed the service in a Wednesday press release as something that will help build a “modern, accessible justice system.” “Modernizing court processes is a priority for our government, and making daily court lists available on- line is truly a step in the right direction,” Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur said in the release. The website came with a disclaimer that not all cases will be displayed — for example, youth cases at the 311 Jarvis St. courthouse in Toronto, and elsewhere. The dockets also don’t show the charges each person is facing. “The website is focused on helping everyday court users find the basic, critical information they need to attend their next appearance in court, such as the time, location and reason for that appearance,” said ministry spokesperson Brendan Crawley. “Other information about the case event, such as the name of the judge and criminal charges or claims, can still be found by calling or visiting the courthouse in person.”

Other provinces have already digitized many of their court services.