Both the provincial and supreme courts in B.C. are reducing services or shutting down courtrooms altogether as the effects of the COVID-19 continue to ripple through day-to-day life.
The provincial court has cancelled all family case conferences and CFCSA case conferences scheduled between March 16 and May 4. Parties will receive notification by May 4 regarding the next date they must attend court.
Only urgent family, CFCSA, and FMEA matters as determined by a judge will be heard,
All non-urgent family matters, including trials, scheduled to proceed between March 18 and May 16 are adjourned without the parties having to attend court. See Adjournment Details for more information.
SMALL CLAIMS
Small claims case conferences scheduled between March 16 and May 4 will not proceed.
Only urgent small claims matters as determined by a judge will be heard.
Urgent small claims filings will only be accepted:
• electronically (where able) using Court Services Online;
• by mail; or,
• by fax to fax filing registries (see GEN 01 Practice Direction).
Applications to a judge for determining if a matter is urgent can be sent by fax to fax filing registries (see GEN 01 Practice Direction) or by mail to the applicable court registry until further notice.
CRIMINAL (ADULT AND YOUTH)
PERSONS IN CUSTODY
The scheduling and hearing of in-custody criminal trials and sentencings will proceed unless adjourned by the Court on application by a party. Parties are encouraged to apply to use video conference for in custody sentencing and trials in criminal matters. You may call the court registry to schedule your telephone application before a judge to have a matter heard by videoconference. You may apply to adjourn a matter by calling the applicable Judicial Case Manager. Adjournments due to COVID-19 will be noted as such in the Court file.
Consent remand matters will proceed by telephone or by submitting to the Judicial Case Manager the Consent Remand Form by email where available.
All judicial interim release (bail) hearings will continue to use video/telephone conferences in accordance with CRIM 05 Hearing of Bail Applications (instead of in-person appearances), unless a judge or justice orders otherwise. CRIM 05 generally provides that bail applications within Court sitting hours are assigned to be heard by judges in the locations where they are sitting, and bail applications occurring outside of Court sitting hours shall be referred to the Justice Centre.
TRAFFIC, TICKET OR BYLAW MATTERS
Traffic, ticket or bylaw matters scheduled from March 18 to May 4 will be adjourned without the disputant having to attend court and will be rescheduled to a later date.
This situation will continue to be monitored and information updated on the Provincial Court website.
The BC Supreme Court will be suspending all its regular operations according to BC Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson.
“As part of the Court’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia has ordered the suspension of all regular operations, effective immediately until further notice,” said a notice posted on their website. “All regular hearings are adjourned. Further details concerning urgent and emergency matters and the running of timelines will follow shortly.”
See: https://www.bccourts.ca/supreme_court/ for updates.
