Courts are more accessible, but concerns remain about marginalized Ontarians
When Erin Townley had to testify against the man who nearly killed her, she took solace in the fact the COVID-19 pandemic meant she could do it from her own home.
In 2018, Townley had been riding with a group of cyclists around Lake Ontario, raising money for pancreatic cancer, when the driver of a grey Nissan veered onto the highway shoulder and slammed into them.
Townley was struck so hard she lost consciousness. When she woke up, she was cradling her fractured forearm.
Another rider, Jeff Vervaeke, wasn’t so lucky. He bounced off the Nissan’s windshield, flew into the air, and was found a short distance away, lying in a pool of blood and gasping for air.
He was rushed to a Kingston, Ont., hospital, but died five days later.
“I actually found [the trial] experience, from a witness perspective, to be less intimidating,” said Townley, whose testimony helped convict the driver, Robert Saunders, of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing death.
“It was easier to do that when I was sitting in my dining room, and had my animals around me [as] a source of comfort and support.”
‘A pretty jarring transition’
In the time between the fatal crash and the ensuing trial, COVID-19 forced Ontario’s justice system — and others around the world — into uncharted, occasionally choppy online waters.
As in-person matters ground to a halt, courts and tribunals were outfitted for virtual hearings. Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey rolled out a quick $1.3 million for laptops, virtual private networks (VPNs) and other technology.
Behind the scenes, exhibits and other court files were being digitized, a huge shift for a system that relied on paper copies for just about everything.
As Downey said in April 2020, the limitations imposed by COVID-19 had “modernized the justice system 25 years in 25 days.”
Read more. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/legal-system-ontario-covid-19-pandemic-1.6278927
