Notice to the Profession – Northwest Region (August 20, 2020)

Updated Notice to the Profession for Court Operations in the Superior Court of Justice, Northwest Region During the Covid-19 Pandemic

GENERAL

Expansion Protocol:

This Notice to the Profession sets out the matters and procedure for the partial re-opening of the courts for the Northwest Region effective July 6, 2020 and replaces prior Notices to the Profession/Expansion Protocols dated April 2, 2020 and May 13, 2020. Counsel, parties and the public may review this, and province-wide information, and orders and directions of Chief Justice Geoffrey B. Morawetz on the Ontario Courts website. In particular, the Provincial Practice Direction/Amendment to the Criminal Proceedings Rules Regarding Criminal Proceedings dated August 12, 2020; the Notice to the Profession re: Justice Participants Unable to attend In-Court Hearings in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dated July 21, 2020 and the Notice to the Profession, Litigants, Accused, Media and Members of the Public dated June 25, 2020. These Notices as well as this Northwest Notice to the Profession may be found at:

www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/

On July 6th, 2020 the Northwest Region expanded matters and hearings. This Notice sets out the protocols that must be followed for proceedings in Criminal, Family and Civil proceedings in the Northwest Region. Please review these carefully, as all litigants, whether represented by counsel or not, are expected to comply with the process set out in this Notice.

Please note that the number of courtrooms currently available for in-person appearances is reduced significantly from what was available before the suspension of court operations due to COVID-19:

  1. Effective July 6, 2020 Thunder Bay has one (1) courtroom available for all SCJ proceedings. In November 2020, it is expected that additional courtrooms will become available if public health considerations permit;
  2. Kenora is in the process of opening courtrooms. Priority for courtroom use will be provided to trials and long proceedings provided public health considerations permit; and
  3. Fort Frances will not have any courtrooms available for in-person appearances until September 2020 (public health considerations permitting).
  4. You will receive more information as courtroom availability is known.

Given the limited number of available courtrooms within the Region, the court will do its utmost to accommodate all matters where in-court hearings are determined to be necessary and in the interests of justice.  This may not always be possible, and flexibility will be required. Many matters will continue to be heard by tele/videoconference, with the preferred platform being videoconference (via Zoom) for all but brief matters.

While the Northwest Region is fortunate to experience fewer COVID-19 cases than other judicial regions, the virus continues to present a considerable public health and safety threat. In these unprecedented times that have necessitated significant changes to the operations of the SCJ, we ask for everyone’s patience and cooperation. This is new for court staff, judges, lawyers, parties and the public. The court is anxious to deal with matters in the most efficient and effective way possible given the current challenges we are all faced with. It is important that all justice system participants act in good faith and cooperate with each other and with the court to ensure that matters are focused and fair and can be completed in a timely fashion.

In addition to the directives established at the provincial, regional and local level, the presiding judicial officer may give further direction.

Kenora and Fort Frances:

Because so much of our work will now be conducted via video conference, there is no longer a need to hold separate speak to dates, assignment courts and motion dates for each of our centres. Commencing in September 2020, we will be moving these events to be heard on a regional basis rather than by court location. This will provide more access to the courts for counsel and parties in Fort Frances and Kenora. Motions days will now proceed every Thursday morning commencing at 10:00 am EST (9:00 am CST) starting Thursday, September 3, 2020.

Motions that will be dealt with on the Thursday motions day will be short matters; consent matters; unopposed hearings or other speak to issues.

Contested motions will be assigned a special date and time and counsel should obtain a hearing date as described later in this Notice. Notwithstanding this direction, counsel and self represented parties are also invited to place their contested motion on the regular Thursday motion date if there is a disagreement between parties/counsel regarding timing, materials required and any other issue where the court is able to provide direction. Once that direction is provided, a hearing date will be provided by the trial coordinator from the location where the proceeding originated.

By proceeding in this manner, all Kenora and Fort Frances matters will have the same access to zoom hearing dates as proceedings in Thunder Bay.

There will be a regional Assignment Court conducted via zoom video conference held on the last Monday of every month commencing September 28, 2020. Criminal Assignment Court will begin at 1:30 EST (12:30 CST). Civil and Family Assignment Courts will begin at 3:00 pm EST (2:00 pm CST). Please follow the directions in this Notice regarding preparation for Assignment Courts including obtaining hearing dates in advance of the Assignment Court.

Notwithstanding that there will now be a regional approach to these proceedings, you must still file your material in the location where you case is proceeding. Please note that documents must be filed by email not in person for all proceedings unless you are directed otherwise. For example, the Kenora trial coordinator is to be contacted through the generic email address for the scheduling of all Kenora matters, and the Kenora CSD email is to be used for filing of all documents for Kenora matters even for proceedings that will be now be heard on a regional basis. The same process applies to both Fort Frances and Thunder Bay.

Because the judge hearing the matter will not be in the courthouse, they will not have access to a paper file. Similarly, the ability for court staff to process paper filings are limited.

There are size limits and other information in this Notice regarding how materials should be filed that you must adhere to including organization of electronic files.

Given the expansion of dates available for Kenora and Fort Frances matters, all regular court sitting dates in Kenora and Fort Frances for regular motions, assignment courts will be combined to one regional date and time. This will occur in consultation with the Regional Manager and local trial coordination staff and the profession and public will be informed when these combined assignment courts will commence.

Similarly, family conferences, civil pre-trials, contested motions and criminal pre-trials will be assigned a hearing date upon request as the court schedule permits.

Email Addresses:

Any reference in this notice to email communication with the trial coordinator shall be directed to:

Thunder Bay ThunderBay.SCJ@ontario.ca
Kenora Kenora.scj@ontario.ca
Fort Frances FortFrances.SCJ@ontario.ca

Please do not use the personal email addresses of the trial coordinators unless invited to do so. If you contact them directly, it may cause your inquiry to be delayed or not acknowledged.

Any reference in this notice to email communication with Court Services Division shall be directed to:

Thunder Bay CSD.ThunderBay.SCJ@ontario.ca
Kenora courts.kenora@ontario.ca
Fort Frances Courts.FortFrances@jus.gov.on.ca

Case Lines – on line filing:

The Superior Court of Justice is in the process of establishing an on-line filing portal that will permit materials to be filed electronically rather than through this email system. We are looking forward to this new development and to announcing when it will be available in the Northwest.

Guiding Principles – Health and Safety:

In order to ensure the safety of all justice participants, every measure possible will be taken to reduce the number of people who physically attend the courthouse each day.

Lawyers, parties, accused persons and witnesses should not attend the courthouse in person unless their physical presence is required. Unless necessary, parties are asked not to bring individuals to their proceeding who are not parties, not giving evidence, or otherwise required for the proceeding.

Generally, and unless ordered otherwise by a judge, no in-person attendance will be required except for a trial, criminal pre-trial application or motion in which viva voce evidence is called or for an application that cannot be heard remotely because it is required to be in camera.

In order to ensure that the Open Court Principle is honoured, access to a hearing or trial via zoom may be provided to individuals and the press at their request. Daily Court Lists are now available on line on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice website. There may be instances where access to a proceeding is not possible due to technical constraints. We are doing everything we can to ensure that this will be a rare occurrence. Certain types of proceedings do not permit access to the public and those continue to be held in camera.

Counsel, parties and the public attending the courthouses must ensure strict compliance with all health and safety requirements posted throughout the courthouse. Failure to comply will result in that person being denied admission to or required to leave the courthouse. If you are uncertain about the health and safety requirements in the courthouse, please inquire before attending the courthouse.

All persons are encouraged to review the Ministry of Attorney General Covid-19 Recommended Precautionary Measures Guidebook for safety protocols and expectations in the courthouse. This Guidebook may be found at https://files.ontario.ca/mag-covid-19-recommended-precautionary-measures-en-2020-08-19.pdf.  All persons shall follow the directions regarding physical distancing, masks and hand hygiene as posted in the courthouse.

Please also note that no person will be permitted entry to the courthouse without first answering the screening questions. You are encouraged to complete the online screening tool before going to court to avoid delays upon entering the building. You must show the result as you enter. Other screening options are available at the courthouse. The online screening tool is available at https://covid-19.ontario.ca/courthouse-screening/.

Please ensure that all participants arrive at least 20 minutes early for their scheduled matter to allow for sufficient time for any delays arising out of screening protocols.

No person shall attend the courthouse for any purpose if that person is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 or if that person has recently been exposed to COVID-19. Any justice participant who would otherwise be required to attend court in person but is unable to do so because of COVID-19 symptoms or exposure shall either email the trial coordinator for their court location, or if no access to email shall call (807) 626-7000 and leave a voicemail message. The email or voicemail message must provide information as to the name of the court matter, the date and time of the matter and contact information in order to allow the court to contact the justice participant and to reschedule the appearance. If you are represented by a lawyer or have been subpoenaed as a witness by a lawyer for a party, please contact the lawyer directly (instead of the court) and they will advise the court accordingly.

Local Administrative Judges:

In order to streamline the expansion of services and to assist with coordination of hearings, the following judges have been appointed as Local Administrative Judges (LAJ):

Justice Fregeau will continue as the LAJ for Kenora and Fort Frances;

Justice Newton has been assigned the LAJ for criminal proceedings in Thunder Bay;

Justice Fitzpatrick has been assigned the LAJ for civil proceedings in Thunder Bay;

Justice Nieckarz has been assigned the LAJ for family proceedings in Thunder Bay; and Justice Pierce has been assigned the LAJ for estates proceedings in Thunder Bay.

CRIMINAL MATTERS

The SJC in the Northwest Region will resume hearing all criminal matters either virtually or in-person, depending on the availability of a courtroom. There may continue to be some disruption to our ability to offer jury trials. Please see “Jury trial” section below.

Scheduling of Dates:

Assignment Court will resume and continue to be held on the last Monday of each month, with the December assignment court being held December 14, 2020. These assignment courts shall include Thunder Bay, Kenora and Fort Frances matters commencing September 28, 2020 until further notice. Criminal assignment court will commence at 1:30 p.m. EST (12:30 p.m. CST) by videoconference. There shall be no in-person attendance. A telephone conference number will also be provided in the event you are not able to attend via videoconference.

Trials, pre-trials and application dates shall be scheduled in assignment court if not previously assigned. Application dates may also be scheduled at the pre-trial or through the trial coordinator by email and placed on the record at the next assignment court if needed. All other matters shall be scheduled by emailing the trial coordinator in your area. All parties and counsel should canvass dates with the trial coordinator in advance of assignment court and then have the dates confirmed, and any further directions endorsed at assignment court.

Trials:

For any scheduled trial, a video or teleconference must be scheduled with the presiding judge in advance to discuss the trial procedure, filing requirements for exhibits, whether any witnesses will be required to testify remotely, evidentiary issues and any other matters necessary to ensure the efficient operation of the trial.

Please note that criminal trials will only proceed by videoconference with the consent of the accused, and otherwise shall proceed in a courtroom, subject to any orders or agreements regarding certain participants appearing via video conference due to health and safety concerns or for any other reason the trial judge may decide is valid.

Judicial Pre-Trials (JPTs)

All JPTs will continue to be heard remotely, by teleconference or videoconference. Crown and Defence counsel are encouraged to work together to ensure that only one copy of the Form 17 is filed with the court in both Word and PDF format, along with any other relevant documents. Service of the Form 17 by the Crown or Defence shall be by email to Court Services Division.

Filing of Materials:

Application materials from either party are limited to 35MB unless a judge orders otherwise.

All materials for criminal proceedings shall be filed with CSD electronically by email to the appropriate CSD email address for your court location. Materials shall be filed in PDF format with indexes and bookmarks for ease of navigation. In addition, all documents shall be clearly identified with the case name, who is filing and type of matter.

Please refer to the section in this Notice in the General Requirements and Advice regarding directions for filing materials.

Order for Attendance of Prisoner at Court Proceeding:

Counsel shall resume responsibility for completing and electronically filing an Order for Attendance of Prisoner at Court Proceeding (Form 12) when their client is in custody and is required for a court appearance. If the accused is self-represented, the Crown shall assume this responsibility.

The Order for Attendance of Prisoner shall be completed on Form 12 with all required information, including virtual connection information. It is not necessary to have this form commissioned or signed. This form can be located on the Superior Court of Justice website:  http://ontariocourtforms.on.ca/static/media/uploads/courtforms/scjcpr/form12/csr-12-23-e.pdf.   Once the Form is completed, it shall be filed electronically with the Registrar’s Office at the appropriate CSD email address for Thunder Bay, Kenora or Fort Frances, for judicial approval and distribution. Please note that the prisoner will be connected to the hearing remotely from the jail unless personal appearance is required for a trial or by order of the court.

Designations of Counsel:

Counsel are encouraged to promptly file a Superior Court designation (Form 18 – Schedule 1 to the Criminal Proceedings Rules) for accused persons both in and out of custody. Counsel are reminded that designations filed in the Ontario Court of Justice are not valid in the Superior Court of Justice. Designations should be emailed to the appropriate CSD email address for your court location. A designation may provide for unlimited appearances by counsel or it may indicate that the lawyer is authorized to appear for limited purposes or a limited time. If, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, counsel are unable to meet in person with a client to have a designation signed, the designation may be signed by counsel on behalf of the client if the client has so directed.

Jury Trials:

The Northwest Region will endeavour to resume jury trials in Thunder Bay effective October 2020, subject to the availability of courtroom and other required spaces, and public health considerations. It is anticipated that jury selection will take place at off site locations to allow for physical distancing. Sites have been sourced in Thunder Bay and are currently being sourced in Kenora and Fort Frances. Once these sites are located and courtrooms are opened in Kenora and Fort Frances, the court will begin setting jury trials in these areas. In the meantime, Defence Counsel and the Crown are encouraged to consider and discuss the possibility of re-election.

FAMILY MATTERS

Due to limited courtroom availability, all family conferences, motions (including motions to change) and appeals will be held either by teleconference or videoconference unless ordered otherwise by a judge. Unless the matter is brief, or the Court orders otherwise, video conference via Zoom is the required platform.

Best efforts will be made to conduct trials in person, but trials may be held by videoconference if courtroom space is not otherwise available. Due to health and safety concerns of some, trials may be held in combination of in person and video conference.

It a party objects to a step in the proceeding being held virtually, the party must raise this at the outset of the conference as a preliminary issue to be determined.

All documents shall continue to be filed electronically unless otherwise directed by a judge. Please refer to the General Requirements and Advice on page 15 of this Notice that sets out how to file your materials.

Urgent Matters Protocol:

In order to continue to deal with urgent family matters (as described in the March 15, 2020 Notice to the Profession), requests for hearings of urgent matters should be sent via correspondence that sets out the nature of the urgency, along with a copy of the notice of motion, any affidavit or other evidence being relied upon and a draft order to the appropriate CSD email addresses.

Issuing Applications, filing an Answer or Reply, and Filing Contested Motions to Change:

  1. Applications may be issued by emailing the Application and other necessary documents as required under the Family Law Rules and requesting issuance of the Application to the appropriate CSD email address.
  2. A hard copy and the appropriate filing fee shall be sent by regular mail to the court office that day or the following day. The court staff will issue the Application and send an email to the Applicant confirming receipt of the Application, with the Court File Number and date of issuance.
  3. Answer, Reply, and other necessary documents required with pleadings under the Family Law Rules, shall be served and then sent to the CSD email address for filing, also to be followed by a hard copy sent by regular mail to the court office that day or the following day.
  4. Motions to Change, not on consent, may proceed by following the same procedure as Applications.
  5. All documents shall be saved and emailed as attachments as set out in the General Requirements and Advice section of this Notice.

Non- Urgent Family Motions Protocol:

In addition to family matters that are determined to be urgent, the SCJ in the Northwest Region will be dealing with all non-urgent family motions, subject to the terms set out below. Please follow these directions for submitting materials. Non-urgent Family Motions shall be filed by emailing the CSD address for your court location.

Unopposed, consent and non-urgent without notice motions: All required documents shall be filed by e-mail to the appropriate CSD address. All such motions shall be dealt with in writing.

Procedural or Simple Motions: If the parties agree that a procedural motion or simple motion may be heard in writing, they shall file their materials in accordance with the procedure for unopposed and consent motions. Otherwise, they shall follow the directions for all other motions.

Other motions: All other contested motions shall either be made returnable to a regular weekly motion list (to be conducted by video) or shall be scheduled with the trial coordinator in your area in accordance with this Notice. No counsel or parties are to attend in person for motions court unless otherwise directed by the presiding judge. Parties shall note:

  1. Until further notice, motions court shall proceed as a speak to list to deal with scheduling of motions, temporary relief pending a scheduled return date of the motion, consent matters and short motions only. Subject to the discretion of the presiding judge, no matters longer than ½ hour will be dealt with on the motions list. All such matters will need to be adjourned to a scheduled date. Counsel/parties are encouraged to canvass dates with the trial co-ordinator for your area in advance of the motion list by sending a request by email.
  2. Motions anticipated to be longer than ½ hour may be scheduled in advance with the trial coordinator for your area, by email. If the date is agreed upon by both parties and if there are no issues requiring the endorsement of a judge, then these matters do not need to be made returnable to a motions court. Motion dates may not be scheduled unilaterally without the consent of the other. All such matters must be placed on a motions list.
  3. Motion materials shall be filed electronically by sending them to the CSD email address for your court location. The electronic motion materials to be filed by each party must not exceed 35MB without judicial authorization. Parties should only attach only those excerpts of exhibits necessary and relevant to the issues to be decided. Copies of all relevant orders and endorsements must also be included in the electronic materials filed. Please refer to the General Requirements and Advice section of this Notice on how to format your materials.
  4. Any previously filed motion materials that a party wishes to rely on at the hearing of the motion must be scanned and re-filed by e-mail. Parties should not re-file materials that they do not intend to refer to at the motion and should indicate in their confirmation forms specifically what portions of these materials are relevant for the motion.

Case Conferences and Settlement Conferences:

  1. Parties may request case conferences or settlement conferences by e-mail to the trial coordinator of the court site where the file is located.
  2. Conferences shall proceed by video or teleconference unless otherwise directed by a judge.
  3. Conference briefs shall be served and filed in accordance with the timelines provided for in the Family Law Rules. Service may be by email. Briefs shall be filed electronically to the CSD email address for your court location.
  4. Case conference briefs shall be focused and limited to twenty (20) pages in length, double  spaced and at least 12-point font size. Schedules or tabs attached that provide background  or a summary of the issues are included in the 20-page limit. The page limit does not  include net family property statements, financial statements, Supportmate calculations and  reports. Only the relevant pages of reports should be included.
  5. Settlement conference briefs shall be limited to thirty (30) pages in length, double-spaced.  The page limit does not include net family property statements, Supportmate  calculations, reports or other documents necessary to resolve the issues. Only the relevant pages should be included.

Trials:

Contested:

Set dates for trials may either be obtained at a trial management conference or assignment court. If a trial scheduling endorsement form has not already been completed with a judge prior to assignment court, then the matter will be set for a trial management or trial scheduling conference. A trial management conference must be held prior to the trial unless a judge orders otherwise. Trial Management Conferences shall be held via video conference unless a judge orders otherwise. All parties and counsel should canvass dates with the trial coordinator in advance of assignment court and then have the dates confirmed, and any further directions endorsed at assignment court.

Uncontested (not defended):

Motions for uncontested trials, for cases in which the time for delivery of an Answer expired prior to March 16, 2020 shall either be made in writing or made returnable to a motions court. Form 23(c) [Affidavit for Uncontested Trial] must be fully completed with the relevant excerpts of any supporting documents attached.

If the time for delivery of an Answer would have expired after March 16, 2020 but for s. 2 of the Emergency Management & Civil Protection Act, the time for delivery of the Answer is suspended, subject to the discretion of a judge. If a party wishes to proceed with an uncontested trial for matters for which the time for delivery of the Answer would have expired after March 16, 2020, they shall bring their motion returnable to a motions list by filing their documents electronically with CSD or shall schedule a set date by contacting the trial co-ordinator for their area by email. In addition to the requirements of Form 23(c), the affidavit must set out why judicial discretion should be exercised given the provisions of s. 2 of the Emergency Management & Civil Protection Act.

Uncontested Divorces:

Joint Divorce Applications:

Joint divorce applications shall proceed electronically through an online portal. Further information may be found at: https://www.ontario.ca/page/file-divorce-application-online. Parties should also consult Rule 36 (6.1 – 6.3) of the Family Law Rules.

Other Divorce Applications

An application for divorce (simple) may be commenced by filing the materials required by the Family Law Rules via email to CSD’s email address for the court location at which the divorce application must be commenced or through the online portal. Hard copies of the documents and the filing fee must be mailed.

Where a divorce application was filed (on paper) before the court suspended operations and is still pending, a digital copy of the application and marriage certificate must be filed by email in its place. CSD staff will not be responsible for scanning any part of the file. The message accompanying the digital materials must indicate that a paper copy was filed previously, and that the applicant will be relying, instead, on the digital version.

Where the time for delivery of an Answer to a simple divorce application:

  1. Expired prior to March 16, 2020, the party seeking a divorce order shall email all documents required by Rule 36 of the Family Law Rules, to the CSD email address for their location. A hard copy of the documents, along with a stamped envelope addressed to each party and the appropriate filing fee shall be sent by regular mail to the court office. Requests will not be processed until the hard copies have been received. The same procedure shall be followed to obtain a Divorce Certificate. Parties should consult Rule 36(8).
  2. Has not expired after March 16, 2020 solely by virtue of s. 2 of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, a divorce order may only issue:
    1. If the parties consent; or
    2. In the discretion of the Court. If a party is seeking the exercise of judicial discretion to issue the divorce order, their affidavit must address the urgency or need to do so.

A request may also be made, by email, to the trial coordinator to arrange a case conference with the parties at which the presiding judge may impose a deadline for the filing of responding materials. Where the responding party fails to attend the conference or does not meet the deadline, the application may proceed as being unopposed, at the discretion of the presiding judge.

The judge will not have access to the court file so if there are dependent children, attach a copy of the court order or separation agreement dealing with custody, access and child support and make sure that the affidavit in support of the divorce is properly completed.  If there is no court order or agreement, complete details of custody, access and child support arrangements must be set out in the affidavit and the income of the support payor must be provided.

General:

  1. Confirmation forms shall be filed for all matters other than conferences, as required by the Family Law Rules. Any matter that is not confirmed in accordance with the Rules shall not proceed and shall be rescheduled. Confirmation forms shall be sent by email to the CSD address at the court site where the file is located.
  2. If a litigant needs help or legal advice, they may wish to contact the Law Society of Ontario’s emergency family law referral line at:

Toll-free: 1-800-268-7568

General: 1-416-947-3310

This service will provide ½ hour of free legal advice, including referrals to other services.

  1. Duty counsel through Legal Aid Ontario is available to provide summary legal advice for family law matters. As of March 27, 2020, they are waiving the financial eligibility requirements for some services. Duty counsel may be reached at:

Toll free: 1-800-668-8258.

CIVIL MATTERS 

Urgent Matters:

In order to continue to deal with urgent civil matters in a timely fashion, (as described in the March 15, 2020 Notice to the Profession) requests for hearings of urgent matters that cannot wait for the weekly motions list should be sent via correspondence of fewer than 2 pages to the trial coordinator for your court location.

Requests for urgent hearings shall set out:

    1. the relief requested;
    2. the reason(s) why the matter is urgent; and
    3. a draft order(s).

Non- Urgent Civil Matters Protocol:

In addition to urgent civil matters the SCJ in the Northwest Region will now hear all other civil proceedings.

Rule 7 and Consent Motions:

All Rule 7 and consent motions in civil matters, shall be delivered by email to the CSD address for the court site where the file is located.

The electronic materials must include the motion materials, (for consent motions) consent by all parties, email addresses for all parties and a draft order(s).

The electronic materials from each party are limited to 35MB unless a judge orders otherwise. Please refer to the section on General Requirements and Advice for instructions on how to file your materials electronically. Judges will NOT have access to court record files. As a result, parties must include electronic copies of all court filed documents that are relevant to the matter. If the parties have previously filed a “basket motion” they must advise of this and undertake to withdraw the “basket motion”.

The assigned judge will review the materials and, if appropriate, issue an order as requested or amended.

In the event the judge has issues with the materials submitted or the proposed order, the judge will provide the parties with an endorsement regarding the deficiencies or reasons for denial of the order.

The parties must undertake to file all materials and any fee payable upon resumption of normal court operations.

Motions in Writing:

Where all the parties agree that the motion can proceed based on written materials only without a conference hearing, the parties may deliver the motion materials electronically to the CSD address for the court site where the file is located.

The electronic motion materials must include the motion materials from both parties, facta, draft orders, email addresses of all parties and written confirmation by all parties to proceeding with the motion by written submissions only.

The electronic materials from each party are limited to 35MB. Judges will NOT have access to court record files. As a result, parties must include electronic copies of all court filed documents which are relevant to the matter. Please refer to the section on General Requirements and Advice for instructions on how to file electronic materials.

The assigned judge will consider the materials and in due course, issue an endorsement/order on the matter. The judge may reserve on the issue of costs and give directions for written submissions on costs.

The parties must undertake to file all materials and any fee payable upon resumption of normal court operations.

Other Motions and Applications:

New Applications shall be issued in accordance with the procedure set out above for family law applications (submit electronically to CSD, followed by a mailed hard copy and the filing fee).

All other contested motions and applications shall either be made returnable to a regular weekly motions list (which shall proceed by videoconference) or shall be scheduled with the trial coordinator.

Other motions: All other contested motions shall either be made returnable to a regular weekly motion list (to be conducted by video) or shall be scheduled with the trial coordinator in your area in accordance with this Notice. No counsel or parties are to attend in person for motions court unless otherwise directed by the presiding judge. Parties shall note:

Until further notice, motions court shall proceed as a speak to list to deal with scheduling of motions, temporary relief pending a scheduled return date of the motion, consent matters and short motions only. Subject to the discretion of the presiding judge, no matters longer than ½ hour will be dealt with on the motions list. All such matters will need to be adjourned to a scheduled date. Counsel/parties are encouraged to canvass dates with the trial co-ordinator for your area in advance of the motion list by sending a request by email.

Motions anticipated to be longer than ½ hour may be scheduled in advance with the trial coordinator for your area, by email. If the date is agreed upon by both parties and if there are no issues requiring the endorsement of a judge, then these matters do not need to be made returnable to a motions court. Motion dates may not be scheduled unilaterally without the consent of the other. All such matters must be placed on a motions list.

Motion materials shall be filed electronically by sending them to the CSD email address for your court location. The electronic motion materials to be filed by each party must not exceed 35MB without judicial authorization. Parties should only attach only those excerpts of exhibits necessary and relevant to the issues to be decided. Copies of all relevant orders and endorsements must also be included in the electronic materials filed. Please refer to the General Requirements and Advice section of this Notice on how to format your materials.

Any previously filed motion materials that a party wishes to rely on at the hearing of the motion must be scanned and re-filed by e-mail. Parties should not re-file materials that they do not intend to refer to at the motion and should indicate in their confirmation forms specifically what portions of these materials are relevant for the motion.

Pre-Trial Conferences:

Pre-trial conference dates may either be confirmed with the trial coordinator by email or scheduled in assignment court on the last Monday of each month (except December – December 14, 2020) commencing at 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. CST).

Pre-trial conferences will be subject to the following requirements:

  1. All participants must be in a suitable location and suitably equipped with stable video or   audio connections. Pre-trial conferences will not be conducted in-person at this time.
  2. Parties or Counsel must comply with Rule 53.03 and otherwise be ready to explore settlement. The case must be pre-trial ready.
  3. All parties and their counsel must participate in the conference and have full authority to negotiate.
  4. Pre-trial briefs shall be limited to thirty (30) pages or fewer in length (no trial management sections are to be included), not including attachments. Only the relevant pages of reports should be attached to ensure that the files do not exceed 10MB. No files in excess of 10MB will be accepted without judicial authorization. Please see the section in this Notice on   General Requirements and Advice for instructions on how to file your materials.
  5. Pre-trial conference briefs may be served by email and shall be filed by email to the appropriate CSD email address.

Trials:

Trial dates may be scheduled with the trial co-ordinator by email (provided it is done so on consent), at assignment court or at a trial management conference. All parties and counsel should canvass dates with the trial coordinator in advance of assignment court and then have the dates confirmed, and any further directions endorsed at assignment court. A trial management conference must be scheduled by the parties and held prior to the trial. Trial Management Conferences shall be held via video conference unless otherwise ordered. While the court will endeavour to hear civil trials in person, they may also be heard in part or in whole by videoconference.

Confirmation Forms:

Confirmation forms must be filed with CSD by email if required by the Rules of Civil Procedure.

BANKRUPTCY MATTERS:

Except for urgent and time sensitive matters and matters where immediate and significant financial repercussions may result if there is no judicial hearing, bankruptcy matters are not being heard at this time.  All bankruptcy matters have been adjourned to September 2020.  When they resume, they will be heard via video conference, not in person.

DIVISIONAL COURT AND SMALL CLAIMS COURT 

Please note that operations of the Divisional Court and the Small Claims Court which are branches of this court are not covered by this notice. Notices regarding those branches of the court may be found on the court web site as follows:

https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/suspension–small–claims–ops/

https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notices-and-orders-covid-19/continued-suspension-scc-operations/

https://www.ontariocourts.ca/scj/notice–to–the–profession–div/  

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS AND ADVICE

  1. Please take care to ensure that documents and requests for court dates are sent to the proper email address set out in this Notice or else they may not come to the attention of the Court. Do not send requests to personal email addresses of the trial coordinators unless specifically invited to do so.
  2. To avoid documents being rejected for filing, please ensure that the directions of the Court with respect to size, format and labelling of documents are complied with.
  3. When sending your request for a hearing, please clearly identify the case name, type of proceeding and the nature of your request in the subject line of your email. This will ensure that your request is processed as quickly as possible. For example:

“R. v. Paul Smith (CR-file no.) – Application for Habeas Corpus”

“Paul Smith v. Ann Smith (FS-file no.) – Application for Restraining Order”

“Paul Smith v. 1234 Ontario Ltd. (CV-file no.) – Request for Urgent Motion”

  1. All electronically filed documents must clearly set out the email addresses of the party filing the materials and of all other interested parties in that matter. If there is a case management judge or a judge is seized of the proceeding, the judge must also be identified.
  2. When filing documents you must identify the case and file number, the party submitting the document and the type of document, otherwise they may be rejected.
  3. Documents should be individually labelled, (i.e.) affidavit of the Applicant, Paul Smith; Factum of the Respondent, Amy Smith, indexed and bookmarked in PDF format. Hyperlinks should be provided in documents (including briefs) to relevant excerpts of the evidence, case law, and any other pertinent documents. With the requirement for hyperlinks to case law, no book of authorities or copies of cases shall be filed.
  4. Orders and facta shall be filed in both PDF and Word format.
  5. Where time estimates are provided by the parties or set by the court for all hearings, in-court and by videoconference, such time estimates will be strictly enforced, subject to the discretion of the presiding judge.
  6. A list of the matters scheduled (including assignment court and motions matters) will be posted on the SCJ website at www.ontariocourtdates.ca. The daily hearing lists will include the case name, time, and reason for the appearance. This information is updated each day at 4:30 p.m. and posted for the following day.
  7. When joining a virtual assignment court or motions list, please ensure that your audio remains muted until your case is called. You may be in a virtual “waiting room” during this time. When your case is called out, please “unmute” your audio, state your name and the party you represent (if counsel). As a general practice, you should also mute your audio on both video and teleconference calls when not speaking to minimize background noise.
  8. Matters placed on an assignment court or motions list may be struck from the list and require an order to be re-instated if no one attends virtually. All parties and counsel should canvass dates with the trial coordinator in advance of assignment court and then have the dates confirmed, and any further directions endorsed at assignment court.
  9. When appearing by videoconference, please try to ensure that your name appears on your screen as opposed to simply the firm name or location name of the room you are in.
  10. Lawyers are not required to gown for virtual or in-person proceedings at this time. Lawyers are required to appear in business attire whether in person or attending via video conference.
  11. Mechanisms are in place by the court to record certain hearings, as required. Counsel and parties and members of the public and press may not record a proceeding for their own purposes unless otherwise authorized by a judge, pursuant to section 136(3) of the Courts of Justice Act.

Sincerely,

Bonnie R. Warkentin,
Regional Senior Justice, Northwest Region