Media

The Court of Appeal for Ontario hears appeals and motions in person, remotely by videoconference and/or teleconference, or in writing. Members of the media or the public may observe hearings in person or remotely. Members of the media or the public who wish to observe a hearing remotely and have not received the Zoom login information from the parties or counsel may send a request for observer access to the Office of the Registrar at coa.registrar@ontario.ca. Requests for observer access should be sent at least 48 hours in advance of the hearing (excluding weekends and holidays). Unless the hearing is being held in camera (i.e., closed to the public) or other restrictions on access have been ordered by the Court, the Office of the Registrar will provide the observer with the Zoom link, webinar/meeting ID and password and associated telephone numbers. More information is available in the Court’s “General Practice Direction Regarding All Proceedings in the Court of Appeal”, under the heading “Public and Media Access to Hearings”.

Please remember that copying, recording, publishing, broadcasting or disseminating any court hearing, or any portion of it, including a hearing that is conducted over videoconference or teleconference, is prohibited and is an offence under s. 136 of the Courts of Justice Act.

Media Contacts

General filing and scheduling information about Court of Appeal cases, such as whether an appeal has been filed, the status of appeals and/or hearing dates, is available through the Court’s Intake Office. This office can be reached by phone, Monday to Friday (except statutory holidays) from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 416-327-5020 or toll free at 1-855-718-1756 (choose option #2 for the Intake Office when prompted).

All court decisions are posted on this website, and later on CanLII.  Other media requests, including requests to photograph/film within Osgoode Hall, requests for an interview or requests related to decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario may be sent to the Manager of Communications to: jason.gennaro2@ontario.ca.

Media requests for comment from the Ministry or its staff or for matters before the Superior Court of Justice or the Ontario Court of Justice can be sent to: MAG-Media@Ontario.ca (email) or 416-326-2210 (phone).

Possible Restrictions on Court Access: Non-Publication Orders, In Camera Hearings, and Sealing Orders

A fundamental principle of our justice system is the right of the public to attend hearings and publish information about court proceedings. These rights are limited in some situations by non-publication orders that are mandated by statute or court order.

From time to time, applications are made to the Court of Appeal for an order to impose or lift an exceptional, discretionary non-publication order, for an order to seal or unseal a court file, or for an order for a hearing to take place in the absence of the public, or “in camera. 

Members of the media can receive notice of such applications by subscribing to the Media Notice and will be given an opportunity to participate in such application hearings.

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Notice to the Media

February 16, 2024

R. v. Biao Zhou

Court of Appeal File No. C66921

A motion for a discretionary limit on court openness is scheduled to be heard in the above noted matter via videoconference on February 28, 2024. The appellant was convicted of sexual assault and forcible confinement following a jury trial. One of the issues on appeal is whether the trial judge ought to have removed one of the jurors for lack of impartiality given that that they had worked in the area of, and written on, sexual violence against women.  Accordingly, the materials filed for this appeal contain some references to this juror’s name. The name of another juror is also referenced in some of the materials for this appeal. The Crown is bringing a motion seeking to seal the material that references the identity of these jurors and replace that sealed material with a publicly available redacted version. The Crown also seeks an order prohibiting the parties from referring to jurors’ names or other information likely to reveal their identity during the appeal hearing, and a publication ban prohibiting the publication of information that could identify any juror. These requested confidentiality orders are similar to a confidentiality order the trial judge below imposed, which ordered that no transcript, distribution, or printing of a court proceeding in which this juror’s name was mentioned be made available.

Representatives of the media who wish to make submissions on the motion to limit court openness are to provide notice in writing of their intent to appear by February 21, 2024. Written notice shall be sent by email to the Office of the Executive Legal Officer: coa.executivelegalofficer@ontario.ca. The Executive Legal Officer will provide copies of the notice to the parties.

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