These terms of use have been written to explain how the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario) interacts and communicates with the legal profession, the media and the public through social media.
Please note that @SCJOntario_en and @CSJOntario_fr are the only official Twitter accounts of the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario).
Please do not use any Superior Court of Justice social media platforms for requests for legal information or any other matter requiring a reply. Sending messages to the Superior Court of Justice’s Twitter account or to any other social media platform will not be considered contacting the court for any official purpose.
For information about individual court cases, such as next court dates, please contact the court location directly. Addresses and phone numbers for individual court locations can be accessed on the Ministry of the Attorney General’s website.
The administration of justice in the province of Ontario falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Attorney General. For general information on issues relating to the administration of justice, please consult the Ministry of Attorney General website. For general telephone inquiries, call the Ministry of the Attorney General at 416-326-2220 or 1-800-518-7901; TTY 1-877-425-0575.
Content
Social media platforms are external to the Superior Court of Justice. Social media accounts are public and are not hosted by the Superior Court of Justice. Users who choose to interact with the court via social media are bound by the terms and conditions of use of the social media platform(s). At this time, the Superior Court of Justice uses only Twitter.
Social media accounts may post or display links or advertisements that are outside the control of the user. The Superior Court of Justice is not responsible for the information found through links or ads nor does the court endorse any websites or their content.
Content on any Superior Court of Justice social media platforms may include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Administrative announcements, such as rule changes, practice advisories, practice directions and other notices to the legal profession and to the public
- Announcements related to judicial appointments and retirements
- Notification of and links to case law of interest
- Court news
- Media releases.
Comments and Interaction
The Superior Court of Justice’s decision to subscribe to or to follow a social media account or to share, like or re-post social media content from any another user is not an endorsement of that account, page, website, organization or its content.
The Court reserves the right to edit or delete any comments or replies on its social media platforms that:
- Contain personal information
- Are contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
- Express racist, hateful, sexist, homophobic, slanderous, insulting or life-threatening messages
- Could be in violation of Canadian law
- Put forward serious, unproven or inaccurate accusations against individuals or organizations
- Are aggressive, coarse, violent, obscene or pornographic
- Are offensive, rude or abusive to an individual or organization
- Are not sent by the author or are put forward for advertising purposes
- Encourage illegal activity
- Contain announcements from organizations
- Are written in a language other than English or French
- Are unintelligible or irrelevant
- Are repetitive or spam.
Users that violate this policy may be blocked and/or reported to the social media platform.
Accessibility
Social media platforms are third-party service providers and are not bound by the standards for Web accessibility.
Copyright
Information that the Superior Court of Justice posts on social media is subject to the Copyright Act.
Privacy
For information relating to privacy on social media platforms, please refer to the privacy policy of the third-party provider, for example Twitter.
Media Questions and Requests
Media inquiries may be directed to the Office of the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario) by email at SCJ-CSJ.MediaInquiries@ontario.ca.
Languages
At this time, the Superior Court of Justice maintains Twitter accounts in both English and French. Content on the Superior Court of Justice website is also available in both official languages.
Effective date: October 1, 2018