SLAW | “Trial by Zoom”: What Virtual Hearings Might Mean for Open Courts, Participant Privacy and the Integrity of Court Proceedings

Amy Salyzyn — chercheure AJC — s’intéresse à la manière dont la pandémie a bouleversé le fonctionnement du système judiciaire dans le cadre d’un article publié sur le blogue juridique Slaw. Elle dresse le portrait des tribunaux virtuels en mettant l’emphase sur la nécessité de fournir plus de transparence, notamment par un accès plus significatif aux audiences virtuelles et une protection accrue de la vie privée des justiciables.

It’s not business as usual in Canadian courts. The COVID-19 pandemic has upended court operations, just as it has upended every other aspect of daily life. One response to the need to ensure physical distancing has been to move in-person court hearings to virtual formats. Beyond the utility of virtual hearings as short term emergency measures, there is reason to believe that this moment may well mark the start of a shift toward increased use of virtual hearings in the longer term. In discussing the impact of COVID-19 on courts, the Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court has stated, “we have been forced and the Ministry has been forced to accelerate its plans to move to electronic hearings and also to electronic filings and we cannot go back….it is time for Ontario to push forward…we cannot go backwards.”

By Amy Sayzyn, Slaw

Ce contenu a été mis à jour le 12 avril 2023 à 14 h 31 min.