COVID-19 has negatively impacted everyone, and the Legal Services sector is no exception.  Although, the Justice and Legal sector are essential services during the pandemic, all proceedings in the Courts and Tribunals, with the exception of some emergency or urgent matters, have stopped.  All scheduled hearings for now and the foreseeable future, have been cancelled, to be rescheduled some time in the future. Yet, there is still a need, and a right of the public, to access justice and have legal disputes heard in a timely manner.   

The Small Claims Court are accepting filings on-line of claims and are only scheduling hearings if there is an 'urgent' matter. However, there aren't really any (or many) urgent matters; most matters of urgency and importance, subjective to the individual litigants, do not fit the current objective standard of what urgent is, that is already set.  

The Landlord and Tenant Board are also accepting the filing of Applications on-line, and is also only hearing urgent applications involving illegal act and safety issue. Understandably, the Board is not scheduling or issuing any eviction Applications/Orders during COVID-19, except if it is a type of the urgent application set out above. The data suggests that Eviction based Applications make up about 65-70% of all of the Applications filed (2018 Annual Report) at the Board. However, there is still a large number of other types of applications (the other 30-35%) that do not involve evictions; and these still can be heard now, by other methods, such as by telephone or videoconference.  

That said, the Landlord Tenant Board can also schedule any Application to a Case Management Hearing. This type of hearing involves mediation component to it, and has traditionally been always done by telephone (Teleconference) in any event.

Most of the Judicial Officials and Hearing's Officers (some are Mediators) are working from home or remotely from their regular offices at the Small Claims Court or Landlord & Tenant Board. In fact, some Case Management Hearings at the Board were happening by telephone conference with the Hearing's Officers after the pandemic started. However, it is not clear if the Board has stopped them or not.  

What is clear is that there is a need from the public and the legal profession to get things moving again within the boundaries of the pandemic restrictions.

In the United States, an article as early as March 24, 2020 wrote about some US States/Judges that already started learning to use videoconferencing to hear cases. One of the comments by a Judge was they "They understand the importance of trying to keep the judiciary operating as a stable part of the government amidst this instability.” (Law.com)

We need to keep the courts and tribunals operating in order to ensure fair access to justice, at the same time keep the legal professionals helping and working, to help achieve a smooth Justice system. 

We have the technology available to us right here in Ontario in both in Small Claims Court and the Landlord and Tenant Board, and we are able to have electronic (telephone and/or videoconference) hearings for matters now.

This petition is to respectfully request that the Ontario Small Claims Court, and Landlord & Tenant Board start having telephone or electronic hearings during COVID-19 for more than just urgent matters.  Matters that can heard by teleconference, such as: Settlement Conferences and various procedural Motions in Small Claims Court.  Reviews of Orders, Agreements to terminate Applications, Motions, Tenant's Applications for maintenance and interference, and Landlord's Applications for damages in the Landlord and Tenant Board.  In the Landlord and Tenant Board, any Application can be sent to a Case Management Hearing (by telephone); this type of tele-Hearing can also be used to try and mediate and resolve matters.

Both the courts and tribunals are equipped with telephone and in some cases video conferencing equipment.

We must use the technology we have to keep the wheels of Legal system running (even if it's not at full throttle) so that the Public can still get access to Justice.  Rescheduling all hearings during COVID 19 (however long it will last) will just cause a massive overflow later, a kind of a 'borrow from Peter to pay Paul' effect, which will make the system's debt/case load bigger later, further negatively impacting and impeding access to justice for Ontarians when we do get up and running, at the same time minimize the risk of infection as most of the routine hearings and procedural cases will not require a personal attendance at the court and/or tribunal with hundreds of people. 

We would appreciate your cooperation in this matter. 

Thank you,

Ontario Legal Professional

Disclaimer:  This Petition does not necessarily represent the views of ALL legal professionals or Government Bodies being petitioned in Ontario.  This is a request for some of the courts and tribunals to hold telephone / electronic hearings in place of in-person hearings during the pandemic.  While this petition primarily focuses on Small Claims Court and the Landlord & Tenant Board in Ontario - it is suggested all of the Ontario Courts and Tribunals do this.