The Court of Appeal for Ontario hears appeals and motions in person, remotely by videoconference and/or teleconference, or in writing. Members of the media or the public may observe hearings in person or remotely. Members of the media or the public who wish to observe a hearing remotely and have not received the Zoom login information from the parties or counsel may send a request for observer access to the Office of the Registrar at coa.registrar@ontario.ca. Requests for observer access should be sent at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing (excluding weekends and holidays). Unless the hearing is being held in camera (i.e., closed to the public) or other restrictions on access have been ordered by the Court, the Office of the Registrar will provide the observer with the Zoom link, webinar/meeting ID and password and associated telephone numbers. More information is available in the Court’s “General Practice Direction Regarding All Proceedings in the Court of Appeal”, under the heading “Public and Media Access to Hearings”.
Please remember that copying, recording, publishing, broadcasting or disseminating any court hearing, or any portion of it, including a hearing that is conducted over videoconference or teleconference, is prohibited and is an offence under s. 136 of the Courts of Justice Act.
General filing and scheduling information about Court of Appeal cases, such as whether an appeal has been filed, the status of appeals and/or hearing dates, is available through the Court’s Intake Office. This office can be reached by phone, Monday to Friday (except statutory holidays) from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 416-327-5020 or toll free at 1-855-718-1756 (choose option #2 for the Intake Office when prompted).
All court decisions are posted on this website, and later on CanLII. Other media requests, including requests to photograph/film within Osgoode Hall, requests for an interview or requests related to decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario may be sent to the Manager of Communications to: jason.gennaro2@ontario.ca.
Media requests for comment from the Ministry or its staff or for matters before the Superior Court of Justice or the Ontario Court of Justice can be sent to: MAG-Media@Ontario.ca (email) or 416-326-2210 (phone).
A fundamental principle of our justice system is the right of the public to attend hearings and publish information about court proceedings. These rights are limited in some situations by non-publication orders that are mandated by statute or court order.
From time to time, applications are made to the Court of Appeal for an order to impose or lift an exceptional, discretionary non-publication order, for an order to seal or unseal a court file, or for an order for a hearing to take place in the absence of the public, or “in camera“.
Members of the media can receive notice of such applications by subscribing to the Media Notice and will be given an opportunity to participate in such application hearings.
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Reference re Online Gaming and International Play
Court of Appeal File No. COA-24-CV-0185
A motion for a discretionary limit on court openness is scheduled to be heard in the above noted matter via videoconference on July 5, 2024.
The Lieutenant Governor in Council referred the following question to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on February 2, 2024, by Order in Council 210/2024:
Would legal online gaming and sports betting remain lawful under the Criminal Code if its users were permitted to participate in games and betting involving individuals outside of Canada as described in the attached Schedule? If not, to what extent?
More information about this matter is available on the court’s website here.
Following a motion hearing on May 1, 2024, Justice van Rensburg granted leave to intervene to the following parties:
The Attorney General of British Columbia and the Canadian Lottery Coalition Members are now seeking leave to file a record. These interveners have filed their proposed records with the court and their motions seeking leave to file these records will be heard on July 5, 2024.
On June 27, 2024, the Canadian Gaming Association filed a notice of motion seeking (a) an order expunging these proposed records from the court file if the court denies leave to file them, or (b) in the alternative, an order that certain portions of the evidence be sealed if the court grants leave to file the evidence. The portions of the evidence the Canadian Gaming Association seeks to seal broadly relate to alleged illegal activities of specific gaming organizations. The Attorney General of Ontario and the other interveners have not yet provided their positions on this motion.
Representatives of the media who wish to make submissions on this motion are to provide notice in writing of their intent to appear by July 3, 2024. Written notice shall be sent by email to the Office of the Executive Legal Officer: coa.executivelegalofficer@ontario.ca. The Executive Legal Officer will provide copies of the notice to the parties.