The pandemic is also forcing lawyers and judges into a debate about the merits of technology and access to justice
When coronavirus first started spreading in Canada earlier this year, everyone — especially those who did not catch the virus — immediately felt the impacts as travel ceased, offices closed and childcare paused, to name just a few effects.
“Victims of intimate violence are often very vulnerable and the pandemic has increased their vulnerability,” Gorman wrote in a ruling on May 12. “Cases involving intimate violence should not be placed on hold when the court has the technology and has expressed a willingness to hear additional matters.”
It “mirrored what would have occurred if the sentence hearing had been held in a courtroom with the participants present,” Gorman wrote. Eric Gillespie, a lawyer in Toronto, said in the past month he has participated in virtual hearings for two separate cases in Ontario’s Divisional Court, which he characterized as an unusually high number in the current setting.
He added about virtual hearings, “It’s something that one would hope the courts would consider even when we get back to in-person hearings because it clearly improved access to justice.”
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