This Notice should be read together with the Consolidated Provincial Practice Directions.
This Notice replaces all prior Notices in the Northwest Region. This Notice addresses:
- Regional variation regarding presumptive mode of proceeding in Family Law cases;
- Regional Motions in Civil and Family matters in the Northwest Region;
- The process for obtaining an early resolution conference in Civil proceedings;
- Obtaining Trial Dates for Civil and Family Trials;
- Scheduling of Criminal Matters; and
- CaseLines Tips for Motions, Applications, and other
1. Regional variation regarding presumptive mode of proceeding in Family Law cases
This region supports the Guidelines in the Provincial Practice Directions regarding matters that are presumptively in person and those presumptively virtual, however, some deviation from the Guidelines is necessary in the Northwest Region to maintain the historic means of accessing the Courts in this region.
The distances between court locations, the cost of travel to and within the Northwest Region as well as the vast size of the Northwest Region, has meant that virtual hearings (by video or telephone conference) have always been an accepted method of accessing the Courts. The Guidelines allow for a regional directive where variations are necessary.
The variations and clarifications in this Notice pertain only to the Northwest Region.
The SCJ in Northwest Region has court locations in Thunder Bay, Kenora and Fort Frances. There is no resident SCJ judge in Fort Frances. To provide equal access to the SCJ, the Northwest Region has moved to a regional calendar. This means that rather
than setting court dates on a limited basis in both Kenora and Fort Frances, counsel and parties may obtain the earliest available date for their event. The result, however, is that many proceedings, in particular family conferences, and certain other events that are presumptively to be heard in person in the Guidelines in the Provincial Practice Directions will be held virtually in this Region.
2. Regional Motions (Civil and Family – one hour or less)
All motions on the Thursday Regional Motions lists shall be uploaded to CaseLines no later than 4:00 p.m. of the Tuesday prior to the Regional Motions Day (i.e. by 4:00 p.m. on November 1, 2023, for motions being heard on November 3, 2023).
Late filing, unless it is an emergency matter, will not be considered a valid reason for receiving authorization to proceed. If your motion is not uploaded to CaseLines as directed, the motion shall be automatically adjourned to the following Regional Motions Court unless a different date is provided.
As soon as possible after the filing of your Notice of Motion and paying the requisite fee, Court Services Division will provide you with a CaseLines invitation to upload your motion material to a Regional Motions Court bundle. They endeavour to do this within 3 days, however, that is not always possible, so you should bear this in mind when placing a matter on the Regional Motions Court list.
In an effort to ease the congestion of filings in advance of Regional Motions Court, it is strongly recommended that you serve and file your motion materials well in advance of the preferred Regional Motions Court date in order to avoid the motion from being adjourned because you were not able to upload your material to CaseLines.
Orders and Endorsements from Regional Motion’s Court
After the hearing of the motion, the endorsement or order from the presiding judge will be uploaded to the Regional Motions Court bundle and you will receive notice that the order or endorsement has been uploaded (you must have notifications enabled on CaseLines in order to receive the notice). The order or endorsement shall be available on CaseLines for a period of 2 weeks. The order or endorsement will be maintained on the actual court file with Court Services Division and will always be available from the court staff.
Please note that the Regional Motions Court bundle is not part of the CaseLines folder for an individual proceeding.
Because the Regional Motions Court bundles are not the same folder as the CaseLines folder for the main action or application, the Court is not able to provide access to your Regional Motion bundle indefinitely. If for some reason you are not able to locate your order or endorsement, you may request a copy from the appropriate court location at the following email addresses:
Thunder Bay – CSD.ThunderBay.SCJ@ontario.ca
Kenora – Courts.Kenora@ontario.ca
Fort Frances – FortFrances.OCJ.Courts@ontario.ca
Confirmation Forms
It is not sufficient to only file your confirmation form with the court it must also be uploaded to CaseLines whenever a confirmation form is required (it is always required for motions and for family conferences).
Civil – Confirmation forms are due five (5) business days prior to the event. Family – Confirmation forms are due three (3) business days prior to the event.
Your matter may be struck from the Regional Motions court list or removed from the schedule if the confirmation form is not filed on time.
The court staff require confirmation forms to determine whether a matter is proceeding, and the time required for the event. The court staff do not upload the confirmation form to CaseLines nor do they forward the filed confirmation to the hearing judge.
Judges require the confirmation form to ascertain what issues are in dispute and which documents they should be reviewing. For example, if a motion is being placed on the Motion List as a consent motion, it is imperative for the judge to have this information in the confirmation form on the CaseLines bundle for the motion, otherwise, the judge will spend unnecessary time reviewing the entire file to consider the issues presumed to be in dispute.
When a special date has been provided for a long motion or other proceeding, the hearing date assigned may be adjourned or vacated if the confirmation form is not uploaded to CaseLines.
3. Long Motions (Civil and Family – more than one hour)
Civil and Family Motions requiring more than one hour of hearing time are to be scheduled directly with the trial coordinator. Motion material to be uploaded to the appropriate motion folder of the CaseLines Bundle.
4. Pre-Trials and Early Resolution Conferences in Civil Proceedings
Changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure require that:
- Prior to scheduling a pretrial, the parties must have received and served all their expert reports (Rule 53.03);
- Parties are to complete and file a Certificate of Readiness 30 days prior to a pretrial conference. The Certificate of Readiness relates to the calling of experts by a party and confirming that the expert reports have been obtained and served, and if not, why (Rule 50.03.1);
- Pretrial conferences will only be scheduled if the trial date is not more than 120 days and not less than 30 days after the pretrial conference, or on the first day of the sitting during which the trial is expected to be held, which in the Northwest would be the earliest available Running List (Rule 50.02 (2.1));
- A judge on their own initiative or at a party’s request, at any time, may direct that a pretrial conference be held (Rule 50.02(3)); and,
- A judge may order costs to be immediately payable against a party where they determine a pretrial conference was unproductive for reasons relating to that party’s conduct (Rule 50.12).
In consultation with members of the Civil Bar (both plaintiff’s counsel and defence counsel), the Northwest Region offers early resolution conferences after a trial record has been served and filed, either on the consent of the parties or by court order, should a judge determine that such a conference would be beneficial in narrowing the issues or resolving the litigation. Before an early resolution conference date will be provided to counsel, they must submit to the RSJ or designate, a summary of the issues they wish to address and why an early resolution conference would be beneficial.
In the Northwest Region, the early resolution conference shall proceed under Rule 50.02(3) of the Rules of Civil Procedure and the usual pretrial conference form shall be served and filed, with the additional information that the conference is proceeding as a pre-resolution conference.
Pretrial and early resolution conference briefs shall not exceed 15 pages. Any additional documents that counsel wish the pretrial judge to review must be hyperlinked. They must also be filed and uploaded to CaseLines. Even if hyperlinked, it is preferable that each additional document is uploaded to CaseLines individually. This enables the judge and opposing parties to quickly locate the material.
The Rules require that pretrial conference briefs are required to be filed 5 days in advance of the pretrial. This Rule also applies to early resolution conference briefs. Once your pretrial conference brief has been filed in the court file, an invitation will be sent to counsel to enable you to upload your materials to the relevant CaseLines bundle. At times there is a delay between filing the pretrial brief in the court and receiving the invitation to upload to CaseLines.
To minimize delays in uploading your material to CaseLines, counsel and parties are encouraged to file their briefs in the court more than 5 days prior to the scheduled pretrial. This will assist the court staff in processing your materials and providing the CaseLines invitation so that your materials may be uploaded to CaseLines in sufficient time for the assigned judge to prepare.
Trial Coordination Emails:
Thunder Bay – ThunderBay.SCJ@ontario.ca
Kenora – Kenora.SCJ@ontario.ca
Fort Frances – FortFrances.SCJ@ontario.ca
5. Trial Dates for Civil and Family Trials
If a date for a civil (jury or non-jury) trial was obtained prior to the pretrial conference, the date shall be confirmed at the pretrial. If a date for a civil (jury or non-jury) trial was not obtained prior to the pretrial conference, the date shall be obtained at the pretrial. In either case, the pretrial judge shall place or confirm the trial on the appropriate Running List and make directions with respect to further trial management conferences as required.
Dates for Family trials shall be obtained at the trial scheduling conference and the presiding judge shall place the trial on the appropriate Running List and make directions with respect to further trial management conferences as required. Matters are to be spoken to at 9:00 a.m. on the Wednesday preceding commencement of the Running List to confirm readiness.
6. Criminal Proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice in the Northwest Region
The Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction for Criminal Proceedings (CPPD-CP) (effective June 15, 2023) will apply unless otherwise stated.
Pre-trial Conferences
Upon committal for trial, the parties shall contact the trial coordinator to schedule a date for the pre-trial conference. The date for the pre-trial conference shall be confirmed at the next assignment court immediately following the filing of the indictment.
Counsel are only required to gown for judicial pre-trials when a plea is expected to be taken at the pre-trial. In all other instances, it is not necessary for counsel to gown for judicial pre-trials in the Northwest Region.
Trial Scheduling
Following the pre-trial, the parties shall contact the trial coordinator to set dates for trial and applications, if any, in accordance with the direction of the pre-trial judge. The dates shall be confirmed at the next criminal assignment court immediately following the pre- trial. Failure to contact the trial coordinator as directed may result in the adjournment of the matter at assignment court with delay attributed to the noncomplying party.
Trials, both jury and non-jury, will be assigned to a Running List and it is expected that matters will proceed when called. Matters are to be spoken to at 9:00 a.m. on the Wednesday preceding commencement of the Running List to confirm readiness.
Bail Hearings, Bail Reviews and Detention Reviews
A party seeking a Bail Hearing, Bail Review or Detention Review (based on grounds other than delay) shall first obtain an appointment for a pre-hearing conference from the trial coordinator. The purpose of the pre-hearing conference is to determine the issues and the evidence required and address any other hearing management issues. Upon completion of the pre-hearing conference, the pre-hearing judge will direct the parties to obtain a date for the hearing from the trial coordinator and provide directions for the hearing.
Regional Detention Reviews and Bail Estreatments will now be conducted regionally via ZOOM commencing in January 2024. Connection details will be available on the Various Scheduled Dates for the Northwest Region which will be distributed by the trial coordinator annually.
Detention Reviews
Implementation January 11, 2024
Detention Reviews will run twice a month on Thursdays @ 2:00 p.m. EST / 1:00 p.m. CST
The Kenora and Fort Frances dockets will be addressed first at 1:00 pm CST / 2:00 pm EST, followed by the Thunder Bay docket.
Bail Estreatments
Implementation January 11, 2024
Bail Estreatments will be monthly on Thursdays @ 3:00 p.m. EST / 2:00 p.m. CST
The Kenora and Fort Frances dockets will be addressed first at 2:00 pm CST / 3:00 pm EST, followed by the Thunder Bay docket.
6. CaseLines Tips for Motions, Applications, and other Proceedings:
- Please remember that the CaseLines folder is the only access to the court file that the judge hearing your motion, pretrial or other proceeding has before them. It is imperative that you upload all material that is needed for the For example, the pleadings should always be uploaded into a Pleadings bundle, even if your event is a long motion or a pretrial/or family conference. Judges rely on reviewing the pleadings to obtain a full picture of the nature of the proceeding before the court.
- Confirmation forms, when required, must be filed in the court file and uploaded to CaseLines. The confirmation form must include every document that the judge is expected to review. Confer with the other side means confer.
- Ensure that all prior orders and endorsements have been uploaded into the Orders and Endorsements bundle and if not, you must upload them. The court staff will endeavour to upload recent orders and endorsements; however, it is the lawyer’s responsibility to upload historical orders and It is helpful when you are relying on a prior order or endorsement in your motion or other proceeding, that you include them as separate documents in the Motion (or other) bundle as well as ensuring they are in the Orders and Endorsements bundle.
- In addition to the tips and processes for CaseLines provided in the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction, the tips set out below are of specific importance to the judges in the Northwest Region.
- Turn on Notifications on your CaseLines account. By doing this, you will receive a notice every time a new document is filed by any party, or an Order or Endorsement is uploaded.
- Upload as separate numbered documents in the CaseLines bundle:
- Notice of Motion or Pretrial/Conference Brief;
- Affidavit(s);
- Every exhibit or other document being relied upon should be uploaded individually and properly described. In other words, as a document separate from the affidavit itself or the pretrial or conference brief (for example: as “Exhibit A – Consent dated xxx”, “Expert Report of Dr. X”);
- Financial Statements and Net Family Property Statements in Family proceedings should always be uploaded as separate items in motions and conference bundles;
- Affidavit(s) of Service do not have to be uploaded to CaseLines unless service is an issue;
- Facta must have hyperlinks to authorities and hyperlinks to source documents i.e.) paragraph of affidavit or specific exhibit.
- Cases in a compendium of authorities shall be hyperlinked in an Index;
- If not filing a factum, do not upload a case brief as a PDF. Instead, provide a compendium of the cases and statutes, with an index that is hyperlinked to the source and to the specific paragraph number of the case;
- Include your proposed Draft Order or Consent Order as a separate document (this is helpful for the judge to focus on the issues to be addressed and if uploaded separately, the draft may easily be downloaded by the judge and signed if approved);
- Responding material shall follow the same process as above.
Regional Senior Justice Newton
Dated: November 1, 2023