Courts and trials are set to resume in Ontario on July 6th but the situation is a lot different in northwestern Ontario.
That’s because courts in the Kenora-Rainy River district still need to be retrofitted to meet new COVID-19 standards and aren’t expected to open until mid-September.
Karen Seeley is a lawyer at McAuley and Partners and says “This is a serious concern because there are a number of people in custody. These people in custody are not able to set trials. They are not able to have their trials that have already passed and were not reached during COVID. This is a significant concern. You have no access to justice if you have no right to finding of not guilty.”
Seeley stresses “We are losing site of the fact that we are talking about people. And we are talking about people not only that are sitting in the Kenora District Jail and other jails across the province but are waiting for their charges to be dealt with and are on conditions at home. This is very difficult.”
She notes the delay is not only impacting criminal cases but family cases as well.
Seeley says across the province it’s estimated that 30,000 cases have been adjourned during the pandemic.
She says access to justice shouldn’t be available to those that live only in major centres.
Thunder Bay will see some of their courtrooms reopen next month.
Seeley notes there is already a perception in the region that we are lesser, and having courts opening in major centres three months ahead of us will only add to the existing view.
“I think that the government needs to turn around and look at how they decided how courtrooms are going to be retrofitted. It should not have been done on a basis of how many courtrooms are in each courthouse but ensuring the entire province has access to justice.”
To hear more from Karen Seeley, visit the Audio link below.
Here is the full statement from Karen Seeley
COVID 19 has been a trying time and a period of great upheaval and uncertainty for everyone, but more so for those involved in the justice system and particularly the criminal justice system. The accused have not been able to have trials, and their right to a finding of not-guilty has been completely unavailable. The Courts prioritized bail and pleas for in-custody matters, and are now opening up to pleas for non-custody matters, but no one has access to a trial and the fundamental right to be found not-guilty, a bedrock of our justice system.
The Chief Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice has been clear that we are returning to court on July 6, 2020 and that trials will once again become available. However, this is not true for all of Northwestern Ontario. In the Kenora and Rainy River Districts, our courts are not scheduled to be retrofitted until after July 6, 2020 and are not expected to open until September 15, 2020. This is inexcusable. Access to justice should not only be available to those that live in major centers and who as a result were prioritized for retro-fitting. Rather than deciding to retro-fit courtrooms based on the size of the courthouse or geography, the Government should have and needs do this to at least one courtroom in every courthouse across the province. Those that reside outside of Southern Ontario should not see their access to justice and their right to a trial be withheld because of where they live. In Northernwestern Ontario it is only Thunder Bay that will see, some but not all, of their courtrooms reopen for July 6, 2020.
This does not even begin to deal with the existing access to justice issues that are faced in our region and the complications that arise from fly-in and remote courts. These will come with their own challenges, but these challenges should not impede the physical courthouse in the Kenora and Rainy River Districts being appropriately retro-fitted in a timely manner. September 15, 2020 is not timely; it is three months after Toronto’s courts will open. There is already a perception in the region that we are lesser, and this will do nothing but add to the existing view. The Brampton courthouse in Peel Region is the rest courtroom and yet Peel has not moved into Phase 2 of the Recovery and yet their courtrooms will be reopened.
The Kenora District Jail is one of the few institutions in Ontario that has not met the Sol-Gen target of reducing their inmate population between 60 to 70% of the maximum capacity of the facility. As of Saturday June 6, 2020, the Kenora Jail was at 100% capacity with 119 prisoners. While this is an improvement over their usual over-capacity issues, it speaks to the ongoing issues of over-incarceration while on remand in the District. As I am sure you are well aware, over 80% of those in provincial institutions are on remand and are not serving sentences. This is an afront to the availability of real justice.
