eNews: Other Topics
While not without challenges, the Court’s use of technology during the last year to conduct some types of proceedings has increased access to justice for many people. Among other benefits, it has saved litigants and lawyers from travelling long distances for short court appearances.
In medieval times, sentences for crimes in England could include whipping, hanging, burning at the stake, or being drawn through city streets and decapitated. These sentences were, by intent, gruesome public spectacles. The community’s role was to watch and be deterred from committing crimes.
Public health officials have collaborated with the three BC courts and the provincial government’s Court Services Branch (it’s responsible for courthouse operation) to develop a detailed protocol to ensure timely and coordinated communication about COVID-19 testing and exposures in courthouses. This eNews outlines when and how that information will be communicated.
Last fall, more than a dozen editors and journalists from BC’s northern region met with Provincial Court judges for the second in a series of regional media workshops offered by the Court. The meeting yielded not just a valuable exchange of information and perspectives, but a new educational opportunity for BC media.