The COVID-19 pandemic has largely put the brakes on criminal trials. Over the past two weeks, courts across Canada have announced the adjournment of all non-urgent matters. Restrictions vary from province to province, but generally only proceedings involving an accused in custody – for bail hearings, preliminary inquiries, and youth criminal sentence reviews – are moving ahead, with participants engaged via telephone or video conference where possible.

“The decision that's been made by the Ontario Provincial Court, and the provincial courts throughout Canada, is that they're banning any sort of out-of-custody matters for 10 weeks, and then they're going to take stock of the situation at the 10-week mark,” says Calgary lawyer Jeinis Patel of Kay Patel Mahoney Criminal Defence Lawyers.

Leamon practises in Vancouver but has clients in the suburbs. She says that in normal times her firm’s lawyers and articling students often spend the bulk of their day in a car, driving between courthouses to make “nominal appearances.” When the technology is available to save the trip it would save time and resources, she says.

“That might also help us with the delay issues that plague the criminal justice system,” she says.

Though Patel says the courts should have embraced more technology long ago, there is a statutory sticking point to conducting criminal trials remotely. “Archaic” provisions in the Criminal Code prevent some trials from proceeding via telephone or video conferencing, he says.