Prince Albert Court of Queen's Bench. (File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Court Proceedings

Jury trials to resume in Sask., courts announce lifting of other restrictions

Jul 12, 2021 | 2:10 PM

Families who have been waiting months for closure, may now be one step closer to receiving it.

The resumption of jury trials was included with Monday’s update from the Saskatchewan Courts, and comes one day after the province lifted all of its COVID related health restrictions.

Subject to further direction of the Court, jury trials are being scheduled to resume offsite in September. The use of other facilities including hotels and exhibition centre, has been utilized in the past year, to help address concerns related to social distancing.

Court of Queen’s Bench

In addition to the resumption of jury trials, a number of other changes directly impact people entering or leaving Court of Queen’s Bench.

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Persons entering a court house will no longer be screened with a COVID-19 assessment by Court Security, except that masks will still be offered, and any person showing obvious signs of illness may be asked to leave.

While masks are no longer required to be worn to enter a court house, and there is no public health restriction on social distancing, the presiding judge may still require that masks be worn and that physical distance be maintained in a courtroom.

Access to the Local Registry offices is no longer restricted; however, court participants are encouraged to avoid personally attending the court house but, rather, to continue to communicate with the Local Registrar by phone, and file documents by fax, mail or by drop-off in the drop boxes available at each court house and, to the extent permitted, by email.

All court proceedings, other than trials and certain criminal matters, will continue to be heard by phone unless the presiding judge otherwise directs.

Provincial courts

All permanent court points and most circuit court points have returned to regular sitting schedules.

All individuals attending a court facility may wear a mask unless they are asked to remove it by a judge, or a deputy sheriff for security screening purposes.

The hygiene stations and physical barriers remain in place at all court facilities.

Subject to any local protocol, if counsel or an unrepresented accused wish to appear by telephone for a docket court appearance, they should contact the court office at least two business days prior to the scheduled appearance date so that the Court can determine whether their personal attendance is required.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell