The Courts Were Caught Off Guard by Covid-19

 

The Provincial Court of Manitoba recently released a report about how prepared (or unprepared) it was for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our Chief Judge admitted that the court was caught off guard for the huge impact of the pandemic and initially cancelled court hearings, hoping it could wait out the pandemic. However later in 2020 and 2021 the Provincial Court was able to use technology and take safety measures to try to get back on track.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-provincial-court-2020-21-report-pandemic-impact-1.6702777

The Provincial Court handles primarily criminal law cases and also child protection matters. As such, cancelling or delaying hearings was a major step as with both types of cases the Constitutional rights of people are affected. 

Family court (the Court of King's Bench) was also affected and those of us who have been practicing law for many years had to adapt. 

First, all the trials, motions and Case Conferences were simply cancelled in the first part of 2020. As everything got rescheduled into the late spring and summer, the wait for court time grew but there was no sign of the pandemic going away. 

Courts and lawyers began getting set up to have meetings and court hearings by phone and by video. Phone meetings and court proved to be the worst. Not being able to read body language or see what was going on in a courtroom was a major disadvantage. Court by video had its challenges too, in particular when screens would freeze up or there were audio problems. However clients who live out of province, who were frightened by being in the same room as their ex or who were trying to avoid covid exposures found video appearances to be a positive thing. 

The Law Society made changes to allow lawyers to witness documents by video, which helped with not only family law but also real estate and even will signings.

Later, in-person family court appearances resumed but with limited attendance allowed at the courthouse, plexiglass barriers at the lawyer tables and a requirement to mask. These measures were only a minor inconvenience but it did make it hard to hear the person who was speaking behind a barrier and with a mask on. 

It was not until June of 2022 that family court was mostly back to "normal" although some changes have remained in place. The plexiglass barriers are still in place. Minor court matters still happen by phone. Judges are more open to having out-of-province witnesses or even clients appear in court by video. 

In the interests of access to justice, Judges and the court administrators had been talking for years about improving their technology to give clients other options. If there is an upside to the pandemic in all the unfortunate parts of it, this might be it.