COVID-19 has driven up anxieties and everyday challenges for everyone, but for the self-represented litigant, it has raised new and especially difficult issues. Being a self-represented litigant on a normal day is no small feat: it involves tackling issues ranging from searching for and identifying legal resources, to applying arcane and complex rules and procedures, all while navigating unfamiliar territory.
Moving from dealing with the regular uncertainties of being an SRL to being an SRL during COVID-19 is like moving from the frying pan, to the fire.
As the courts begin to move gradually towards reopening and “business as usual”, NSRLP is continuing to track and share changes and developments in a way that makes this information accessible to the public, through our Court Closures and Wills & Affidavits pages.
This has been an enormously time-consuming project for the last four months (grateful thanks to NSRLP research assistants Hannah Thackeray, Anna Sallah, and Anjanee Naidu, as well as NSRLP West Project Coordinator Hayley Waring, all of whom we have come close to exhausting in the process… and Project Manager Dayna Cornwall for many hours of review). However, we are excited to have what amounts to a complete archive for future researchers of the adjustments and changes that have been forced on the courts across Canada during these turbulent months.
Read full article at. http://www.slaw.ca/2020/08/18/the-two-fold-dilemma-of-the-self-represented-litigant-covid-19-and-navigating-the-court-system/
