Manitoba courts put most proceedings on hold for a month

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This article was published 16/03/2020 (2210 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Court proceedings in Manitoba will be dramatically restricted for at least a month in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Beginning Tuesday and until April 17, Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench will limit hearings across the province to only “emergency or urgent matters,” said a notice issued by Chief Justice Glenn Joyal Monday.

“This direction is obviously based upon the Court of Queen’s Bench’s desire to do all that is possible to act preventatively and proactively to avoid or limit the spread of COVID-19, while at the same time providing a principled approach to the provision of essential judicial services,” the notice said.

All non-custody cases will be adjourned to April 16. In-custody matters will be subject to a pre-trial conference before a judge to determine how they will proceed.

Bail hearings will continue as before, with court attendees restricted only to those directly involved in a case.

“We’re going to have to have real heart-to-hearts with our clients about the reality of how long it is going to take to get them to trial if that’s the route they choose and see if there’s another way to go and try to resolve things as much as we can,” said Criminal Defence Lawyers Association president Gerri Wiebe.

“Our job is always to look after our clients’ best interests, but sometimes their best interests isn’t to have their cases adjourned for a year or two while they wait for the court to have time to deal with them,” she said.

Family court matters, including case conferences, child protection and family division trials and motions will be adjourned to April 16, while emergency child protection or family division matters will be heard by a duty judge.

All civil trials are adjourned to April 16.

Manitoba’s Court of Appeal, meanwhile, is suspending all appeal and chamber matters until April, 17, beginning Friday. Urgent matters will be addressed by the court where all parties agree to provide written submissions only, or participate by teleconference.

The Court of Appeal registry will remain open for the filing of appeal documents.

“With respect to the filing of documents, social distancing measures will be in place,” said a notice issued by Chief Justice Richard Chartier. “Everyone is asked to respect these measures.”

All out-of-custody appearances in provincial court have been cancelled for Tuesday, as well as all provincial court circuit sittings.

On Friday, it was announced access to courts across the province would be restricted only to people with direct involvement in a proceeding.

“The one message we are getting from all three levels of court is that this is a very fluid situation, that the information and the stage we are playing on is changing literally by the hour,” Wiebe said.

Adjourning cases en masse will result in an inevitable bottleneck down the line as new cases arrive in the system.

“I don’t think anyone has a real blueprint how we get through it,” Wiebe said. “We just try to make the best decisions in the moment and do the best that we can. I know all levels of court have gone to great pains to consult all the stakeholders to make sure they are addressing everyone’s needs.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca