TORONTO – Ontario plans to introduce a digital court system that will allow people to access court information from anywhere, file documents and pay fees online.
Attorney General Doug Downey said it would transform the justice system for anyone who interacts with him.
“I’m really excited about this fundamental transformation, and it’s probably bigger than people even imagine,” he said in an interview on Friday. “This is potentially the largest investment in Ontario’s justice system in Ontario history.
Downey said he was not yet in a position to disclose a dollar figure as the technology is in the process of being procured and he hopes to have an agreement signed by the end of the fiscal year.
The system should allow people to submit documents, access court information, schedule cases and appearances, pay fees and receive decisions electronically.
Courts have been notoriously slow to embrace elements of modern technological life, though COVID-19 has forced some digital measures to be implemented swiftly. Downey said he is making progress with modernization even without the pandemic, but it has shown that many of these things are possible.
Downey said the goal was for court users to be able to do everything digitally from start to finish, but paper services should still be available for those who cannot access online functions.
This is something the Ontario government has tried before, but ended up abandoning in favor of a piecemeal approach to modernization.
The former Liberal government spent years trying to implement a court information management system with many of the same goals of allowing electronic access to court records, but abandoned it in 2013 after spending $ 10.3 million.
Downey said this project will come to fruition.
“It’s not a concept. It’s actually happening, ”he said. “The system is far behind what it should be.”
On whether journalists are included in court users who will have digital access to court documents, Downey said he believes in the open court principle, but there will need to be a discussion within the court. profession on the types of documents and information that should be public. and what shouldn’t.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 5, 2021.
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