Written decisions are of higher quality. That's the bottom line.
When a judge, like any person, has to write out their arguments, they do it in a more thoughtful way. The hope is that they'll use more thoughtful language, because a lot of times when we see these things happen, it's in oral decisions.
Another issue is that complainants want to have a record of the decision. We've heard from various advocacy groups who emphasize how important it is for complainants to have a copy of the decision. Currently if a judge gives a decision orally, a complainant leaves the courtroom with no record of what they've just been through. Obviously, with the traumatic nature of the proceedings, complainants want to be able to review that, especially after the fact, when a lot of times they can process it more easily. When they do want to have access to an oral decision, they have to jump through all kinds of hoops, and it's also costly to get a copy of the trial proceedings. That's just one issue.
It's also about increasing transparency. When a decision is written, it's much more accessible or available not just to complainants but also to researchers, advocates, and academics who are trying to do work in this area. Also, as I said earlier, on, sometimes the only reason we know these things are happening is that reporters in the courtroom heard it and wrote about it. Written decisions also ensure that decisions can be scrutinized by the public and the parties to the case. This is an area where we need more scrutiny. There is no doubt about it.
I think there are concerns about written decisions being more costly. My hope is that at least we will have more written decisions. If that is a huge cost burden, then I hope that oral decisions will at least be transcribed and be readily available, that you don't have to go through a FOIP system—freedom of information—and that you don't have to pay for it. I particularly hope that the complainant does not have to pay to get access to these records and decisions. There are ways in which I think we could make the system much more accessible and transparent.