Ontario Court of Justice - West Region

The OCJ has issued a new Notice to the Profession and the Public regarding criminal case management appearances. Previous OCJ Notices stipulating that criminal case management appearances will be adjourned for five weeks (with a discretionary bench warrant if the accused person does not appear) will end on November 27, 2020. As of November 30, 2020, all accused persons will be required to attend their scheduled appearances in criminal case management court.

The OCJ has amended its October 22nd Notice regarding virtual criminal case management courts. New dates and locations have been added for the implementation of virtual criminal cases management appearances.

The OCJ has announced that in-person criminal trials and preliminary inquiries in the Ontario Court of Justice will resume on November 30, 2020 at the following locations: Alexandria, Bradford, Elliot Lake, Kirkland Lake, Picton, Red Lake, and Sioux Lookout.

The OCJ will begin implementing virtual criminal case management courts on the following dates in various locations.  For more information, please see the OCJ update.

This week MAG provided an update on the phase 3 of the reopening of courtrooms to in-person proceedings, including target readiness dates for phase 3 locations. This phase of work includes the preparation of additional courtrooms in locations which have already resumed in-person appearances and select new satellite court locations.

The OCJ has amended its Notice regarding court locations that will be commencing virtual criminal case management appearances in October and November, 2020. Additional courthouse-specific scheduling and connection information has been added at the bottom of Notice for select OCJ locations.

The OCJ has amended OCJ Expansion of Virtual Criminal Case Management Courts October 22nd Notice regarding the further expansion of virtual criminal case management courts. These case management courts will launch in select locations on the following dates

The OCJ announced that virtual criminal case management courts will launch in additional locations in the coming weeks:

Effective immediately, the SCJ and OCJ have suspended all in-person court hearings and processes for the Milton Courthouse due to the discovery of mould in the facility. Information about the rescheduling of in-person criminal, youth, intake court, family, and civil proceedings will be forthcoming. For more information

The OCJ has issued a new Notice to the Counsel/Paralegals and the Public regarding Provincial Offences Act matters. All in-person appearances that are scheduled in municipally-administered Provincial Offences courts and Provincial Offences Act appeals before Justices of the OCJ will be adjourned until January 22, 2021. Until this time, OCJ locations will continue to hear matters remotely in accordance with the new Notice. For more information, please see here.