Justice Committee on April 27th, 2021

[Mona Lynch]

I think I said in my opening that there's been good and bad. There are people who can't get to courthouses because they would need parking or would need public transportation. If those people are able to get to a platform such that they can participate virtually, they are advantaged.

The other thing the courts have done is make a lot of the proceedings.... If somebody doesn't have the ability to have the technology, they have used telephone, and so hearings have been by phone, which most people have access to. The difficulty has been for underserviced communities, in expecting that people will have access to those means or will have a private place to have a virtual hearing.

There has, then, been good and bad. I can't say that the pandemic has made it worse. Some parts of it are not as good and some parts are better in terms of access to justice for racialized people and people living in poverty.

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Maloney raised an important point that I hope the committee keeps in mind, which is whether, when we return to some sort of new normal, there will be criteria set for which of these electronic and online procedures we keep.

My question to Madam Thériault is this. Is somebody working on this right now, or are we in danger of just falling into accepting that these changes have taken place in the court system? Are there some things for which we really need to go back to in-person meetings?

[Renée Thériault]

In fact, I think there are a number of stakeholders who are looking into this question. I believe The Advocates' Society in particular has taken quite a deep dive with a number of experts and has given it some considered attention. Obviously, it really does require some thought, and it really depends on the circumstances. I know that's not the best answer, but it often happens to be the case. It depends on the courts. There are no hard and fast rules. I guess that's the best way I can put it.

I don't know if Michael has anything to add to that, but I can assure you that some consideration is being given to this very question.

[J. Michael MacDonald]

Yes, Mr. Garrison, I'll answer it very briefly.

The Advocates' Society is about to publish a very significant piece of work. They put together a review committee made up of former justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, other eminent counsel, and Canadians to look at that very question. I would watch for their report, if you will.

Of course, there is the judicial independence piece as well, because a judge in stream has independence. We can only offer guidance. That's all we can do. It's the judge who decides how her or his court will proceed in any given circumstance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much for that.

I'll once again thank all of our witnesses today for appearing before us and for their very compelling testimony.

If there are pieces that you feel were not highlighted enough or if you would like to provide additional information, please don't hesitate to send that information to Mr. Clerk, and he will circulate it throughout our committee. Thank you once again.

I'll just remind members that the deadline for submitting witnesses for the upcoming elder abuse study is this Wednesday, so please make sure that you get your witness lists in.

With that, the meeting is adjourned.