B.C. Supreme Court suspended until at least May 1 due to COVID-19 pandemic

Supreme Court in British Columbia is taking an adjournment.

The Honourable Chief Justice Hinkson has announced regular operations of the Supreme Court of British Columbia will be suspended as of today, March 19, until further notice.

All court locations are included in the shutdown, which is being initiated in an effort to help contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, court spokesperson Andrea Baedak said in the release.

Civil and family matters scheduled for hearing between March 19 and May 1 are adjourned unless directed otherwise by the court in an automatic adjournment that extends to all trials, conferences and chambers applications or other hearings currently scheduled for hearing before May 1.

Essential and urgent matters will continue to be heard, with family and civil matters considered to be of an essential and urgent nature.

Those cases could include:

• orders relating to the safety or well-being of a child
• matters of public health
• matters of a prama facie urgency such as detention of individuals, housing evictions and civil restraining orders

The court will continue to hear essential and urgent criminal matters with hearings held by telephone when and where possible, or by video appearance.

Urgent criminal matters include:

• bail hearings 
• detention review hearings
• habeas corpus applications 
• applications for search warrants

The new directive replaces a previous announcement made on Friday, March 13.

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