Shortly after Caroline Mulroney took the reins as Ontario's attorney general, she spoke to a judge about the often stymied process of modernizing the court system.

"I said, 'I heard you're still working with fax machines,' and the judge said, 'Oh please don't take away our fax machines, we worked really hard to get them,"' Mulroney said in a recent interview. "There's a lot of work to be done."

Mulroney calls it "essential" that the justice sector be modernized, saying it needs to be brought into the 21st century. But in a government that is trying to eliminate an $11.7-billion deficit, there is not a lot of extra money for new projects.

The Progressive Conservatives are continuing many modernization initiatives started under the previous Liberal government: almost all of Ontario's courthouses now have WiFi; remote access to defence lawyers and expanded remote video appearances are being tested at four detention centres; Crown attorneys are using electronic case management and scheduling in most criminal cases; some civil and divorce filings are done online; and there's a plan to put elements of jury selection online.

But the government has so far not launched many new initiatives.

They did announce in their April budget that they intend to start forming jury pools using OHIP information instead of property records, in order to draw from a much broader section of society.

The idea was recommended in an inquiry report by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci as a way to get more Indigenous people on juries.

A view of the outside of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Toronto. (Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press)

The change means it will take a bit longer to get jury questionnaires online and allow people to seek deferrals or excusals electronically, Mulroney conceded.

Increase in juror pay, cameras in courts not priorities

Iacobucci had also recommended looking at increasing juror compensation as a way to increase representation, but Mulroney indicated that won't be happening any time soon.

"Right now we're not in the position to be able to go down that road, but it's something we certainly will consider," she said.

Jurors are paid $40 a day for trials that last between 11 and 49 days, and $100 a day if proceedings last longer than that.

Mulroney also dismissed the idea of cameras in courts. The Court of Appeal has allowed cameras in two recent public interest cases, and while Mulroney said she was following the issue, it is not at the top of her list.

"It's not a priority for me," she said. "Our government is working on trying to streamline processes, make access to justice easier, faster, less expensive for people, so that's where our focus is."

The view inside the Ontario Court of Appeal. Attorney General Caroline Mulroney has dismissed the idea of cameras in courts, saying it is not at the top of her list. (Reuters)

A pilot project is also scheduled to start this fall in Barrie, Ont., in which police can file court information electronically, eliminating the need for certain in-person appearances.

Province not making moves to make courts high tech

Ontario Bar Association vice-president Colin Stevenson said he isn't aware of much new movement lately on court modernization.

"I certainly hear lots of complaints from lawyers and judges about the lack of technical capacity in the courthouses across the province," he said.

There have been ways introduced in recent years for lawyers to file documents electronically instead of via fax or in person, and Stevenson said more e-filing and e-scheduling options would be more cost efficient in the long run.

"The technology may have an upfront cost, but long-term failure to put in technology will cost the system a lot more money," he said.

Several years ago the government started a more piecemeal approach to court modernization after a large system failed.

"We want to make smart investments," said Attorney General Caroline Mulroney. (CBC)

A Court Information Management System, which was supposed to enable online court services, including scheduling, and consolidate the ministry's three case tracking systems, couldn't get off the ground after four years of work. The province lost $4.5 million when it decided to scrap the system.

Mulroney said she was in favour of a cautious approach.

"We want to make smart investments," she said. "What happens if we live in a world where PDFs aren't the documents that we all use? So we've scanned all these documents into PDFs and we don't' know how to access (them)."