Please be advised that the Ministry of the Attorney General is hosting a Courthouse Recovery information session with Dr. Michelle Murti, from Public Health Ontario, and Ron Kelusky, Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer, on Friday June 19, 2020 at 10 a.m.
You and members of your associations are welcome to join this session using the following link: Friday, June 19th from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
FOLA understands and appreciates that you have an interest in the health and safety measures being implemented at courthouses. In fact, many of you have reached out to us to see if you or a representative of your local law association can attend some of your local planned inspections. Unfortunately, FOLA has been told that, due to capacity issues, they are unable to include additional representatives at this time.
That being said, once completed, local assessments will be made widely available and FOLA will be providing you with a final copy of their report.
If you have any questions, please contact: Samantha Poisson at Samantha.Poisson@ontario.ca
Update On Court Reopening
As I indicated previously, no trials or preliminary hearings will be conducted until July 6, 2020 at the earliest. We are anticipating an updated pronouncement shortly to clarify the anticipated courthouse status with respect to addressing trials and preliminary hearings post July 6, 2020.
Tomorrow I, along with other stakeholder representatives, will be attending the Newmarket Courthouse for an in person update and view of physical changes and adjustments with respect to courthouse operations going forward. As I advised last week, similar steps were taken at the Brampton Courthouse last week.
Crown Assignments Week of June 15, 2020
Monday June 15
202P – Brad Bradley.Juriansz@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Erin Erin.Rizok2@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Thompson Thompson.Hamilton@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Ivana Ivana.Denisov@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Sham Shambavi.Kumaresan@ontario.ca
Elissa Elissa.Kulpers@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – Rob Scott Robert.Scott@ontario.ca
Tuesday June 16
202P – Rob de Chellis Robert.DeChellis@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Melissa Melissa.Henry@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Philip Philip.Hsiung@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Neil Anil.Singh2@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – Lesley Lesley.Pasquino@ontario.ca
Wednesday June 17
202P - Brad Bradley.Juriansz@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Greg Greg.J.Elder@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Michelle Michelle.Rumble@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Jeff Jeffrey.Costain1@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Brian Brian.McCallion@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Kevin Kevin.Stewart@ontario.ca
Sham Shambavi.Kumaresan@ontario.ca
Thursday June 18
200 Court (judge) – Michael Demczur Michael.Demczur@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Samantha Samantha.Peterson2@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Jacob Jacob.Wilson@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – LesleyLesley.Pasquino@ontario.ca
Friday June 19
202P - Samantha Samantha.Peterson2@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Jacob Jacob.Wilson@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Melissa Melissa.Henry@ontario.ca
Courtroom Call In Information:
Tel. 416-212-8012 866-633-0848
100 Intake/Other matters #4942812
103 Bail #4674204
104 Bail #6532049
200 Remand/Plea #5467574
201 Remand/Plea #9851321
Sincerely, Norman Panzica, York Director, Criminal Lawyers Association
In an effort to keep real estate lawyers updated with the ever-changing situation, we have further information to be shared with the real estate lawyers in your association.
Effective June 15 - to support COVID-19 physical distancing protocols, our Personal Mortgage and Homeline Plan Payout team is introducing a digital alternative to a cheque or draft.
Lawyers can now contact the Payout Statement Phone Team (1-800-974-1163) to send a wire payment instead of mailing/dropping-off a cheque or draft
Lawyer Process:
The Payout Statement Phone team will provide lawyers with a password protected e-mail using Secure Webmail with:
The lawyer will need to reply via secured e-mail with the following documents:
We had a very positive meeting with the Ministry of Attorney General and Ministry of Consumer and Government Services staff on June 10, 2020 regarding virtual commissioning and virtual notarization. A copy of our written submissions are available on the FOLA website here.
If and when we receive further information of interest to the real estate bar, we will pass it along.
Stay up to date with FOLA’s real estate information at https://fola.ca/real-estate-law.
Merredith MacLennan and Eldon Horner
FOLA Real Estate Co-Chairs
Government of Canada news release
From the Federation of Ontario Law Associations:
Below is an email from FOLA’s Board Chair, William Woodward. Please share this with your members.
Late Friday evening, FOLA received an very time sensitive request from Attorney General Doug Downey requesting our input and perspective on a potential amendment to the Courts of Justice Act regarding the availability of civil juries. (See letter attached.)
You may recall that the AG recently made changes to remove the availability of jury trials in simplified procedure cases started under Rule 76 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. However, Ontario is one of the last Canadian jurisdictions to allow civil jury trials for most other civil matters, as of right.
Due mostly to the coronavirus pandemic, the demands on the system will continue to evolve quickly as we begin to see the province reopening in stages. To address these changes, the AG and the government will continue to act on the guidance of public health experts, and have expressed a commitment to continue to work together to develop new ways of conducting matters.
Currently, section 108 of the Courts of Justice Act permits a jury of six persons to assess damages and/or decide issues of fact in civil actions, except where prohibited by statute. Certain other statutes provide a judge with authority to direct that an action be brought, or an issue be tried, with a jury in a trial under the act, or set out the responsibilities of the jury where a jury trial is held under the act. (See attached Appendix A to this letter for further details.)
Specifically, the AG is considering an amendment to the Courts of Justice Act to eliminate some or all civil jury trials and would like your thoughts on the following related questions:
1. Should civil juries be eliminated altogether? or
2. If civil jury trials were to be eliminated, are there certain action types that should be exempt? Please specify any action types that in your view should continue to have jury trials available, and the reasons for your view.
The AG has requested our submission by Monday, June 15th. As such, if you wish to contribute your comments for our consideration, please send us your comments NO LATER THAN THURSDAY AT 5:00pm. Please direct your comments to Katie Robinette at katie.robinette@fola.ca.
If your Association would like to submit your own comments, please prepare a written submission and direct it to Ms. Amanda Iarusso, Director of Policy and Legal Affairs, by email at amanda.iarusso@ontario.ca no later than Monday, June 15, 2020.
As no trials or preliminary hearings will be conducted until July 6, 2020 at the earliest, there is still no clear position on when and how courts will "re-open". Discussions, plans, preparations and tests are underway with numerous options and possibilities being considered to get back to regular court operations. These ideas include remotely conducting aspects of trials where parties consent, installation of plexiglass where appropriate, addressing washroom and elevator usage and interior air quality, use of trailers or larger offsite facilities. There are numerous and significant issues under consideration. A test run/walk through of an open courthouse format is scheduled to be conducted in Brampton this week.
The Criminal Lawyers Association was fortunate to have the benefit of presentations last week from the Attorney General Doug Downey, and SCJ Chief Justice Morawetz and OCJ Chief Justice Maisonneuve in a virtual town hall setting. We all anxiously await updates and the resumption of full court operations, including the conduct of trials and will update the membership accordingly.
Crown Assignments Week of June 8, 2020
Monday June 8
200 Court (judge) – Thompson Thompson.Hamilton@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Rob Scott Robert.Scott@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – Amy Amy.Barkin@ontario.ca
Tuesday June 9
201 Court (judge) – Jacob Jacob.Wilson@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Gemma - gemma.sang@ontario.ca
Jeff - Jeffrey.Costain1@ontario.ca
Wednesday June 10
202P - Ivana Ivana.Denisov@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Kevin Kevin.Stewart@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Michelle Michelle.Rumble@ontario.ca
Thursday June 11
Friday June 12
200 Court (judge) – Philip Philip.Hsiung@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Thompson Thompson.Hamilton@ontario.ca
Click here for the latest updates.
The Updated Notice Regarding the Suspension of Small Claims Court Operations (June 2, 2020) is available on this website under Court Info/Forms > Notices/Forms Civil.
See new practice notification re new applications and motions to change from Justice Michelle Fuerst under Court Info/Forms > Notices/Forms Family
NOTE FROM CROWN ATTORNEY OFFICE
Bail variations
Counsel are asked to send bail variation requests to the Duty Crown or the assigned Crown – not the bail vettor.
Contested Bail Hearings
Counsel conducting contested bail matters are asked, if possible, would also be helpful if counsel running to send their surety info and materials to the assigned Crown or the bail vettor well in advance, rather than a few minutes before the hearing starts or during the hearing.
Crown Assignments/Contact Info- Week of June 1, 2020
Monday June 1
202P – Rob DC Robert.DeChellis@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Jeff Jeffrey.Costain1@ontario.ca
103 Bails - Michelle Michelle.Rumble@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Leeanne LeeAnne.McCallum@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown- Amy Amy.Barkin@ontario.ca
Tuesday June 2
104 Bails – Martin Martin.Dionne@ontario.ca
Leeanne LeeAnne.McCallum@ontario.ca
Wednesday June 3
202P - Greg Greg.J.Elder@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Samantha Samantha.Peterson2@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Kevin Kevin.Stewart@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Neil Anil.Singh2@ontario.ca
Bail Vettors – Elissa Elissa.Kulpers@ontario.ca
Remote Duty Crown – Gemma gemma.sang@ontario.ca
Thursday June 4
202P - RDC Robert.DeChellis@ontario.ca
200 Court (judge) – Brian Brian.McCallion@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Melissa Melissa.Henry@ontario.ca
Friday June 5
202P - Tony Tony.VandenEnde@ontario.ca
201 Court (judge) – Michael Demczur Michael.Demczur@ontario.ca
103 Bails – Michael Ventola Michael.Ventola@ontario.ca
104 Bails – Samantha Samantha.Peterson2@ontario.ca
Norman Panzica
York Director, Criminal Lawyers Association
York Region Law Association 50 Eagle St W, 3rd Floor Newmarket ON L3Y 6B1 905-895-2018 / 1-866-221-8864