Good morning, everyone. It's my great pleasure to be speaking with you from Banff, Alberta. We are here on the land of Treaty 7.
Let me tell you a little bit about the criminal system, because we decided to divide this up. We did a survey with the Canadian Superior Court Judges Association. I looked through all of that with respect to what's going on. There's a fairly similar experience, with some exceptions in the north, which I'll come back to.
There were initial delays of criminal trials—both jury and judge-alone trials—for a few months, but most trials were back in service by September 2020, with some exceptions. The courtrooms were opened up with COVID plexiglass protection and protocols. Trials were rescheduled and resumed within a few months.
Jury trials were much more of a challenge because of the distancing requirements for the jury members in particular. Nonetheless, in most jurisdictions courtrooms have now been built in theatres, convention centres, concert halls, community centres, and, in Calgary, the Stampede Grandstand. Jury trials resumed except in the north, but in some jurisdictions they have been put on hold again. They are now on hold in Saskatchewan and Ontario.
The north and the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon have not resumed any trials. There is a significant backlog there. More than 60 jury trials are waiting in the Northwest Territories.
The format of trials has changed dramatically. Rarely are we completely in person anymore. We have witnesses, complainants, interpreters and even accused appearing remotely.
I thought I'd give you an on-the-ground example. I'm presently in a multi-week, multi-accused sex trafficking trial that's being conducted completely remotely. The counsel are appearing from Calgary and Edmonton. The accused and complainants are testifying from Montreal. The many police witnesses involved are testifying from Calgary. It is a French trial.
I preside over the trial in French, and all the interpreters are from Calgary.
The plan was for only the complainants to testify remotely, but the crown was exposed to COVID, and in order to avoid yet another adjournment of this long trial, we were able to pivot and do this hearing completely remotely.
Some issues that come up are document management issues, exhibit marking—