A new directive was issued Thursday afternoon for Queen's Bench courts in Saskatchewan announcing the suspension of operations of the court.
According to the directive from Chief Justice M.D. Popescul, effective 12:01 a.m. on Friday, regular operations of the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench are suspended. Until further notice, only urgent and emergency matters will be heard by the court, and most of those will be heard by phone or video appearance.
In rare cases the court may hear matters where participants appear in person. A full update of the directive and advisory can be found at sasklawcourts.ca.
Among the highlights impacting the Queen's Bench court in Battleford:
All out of custody pre-trial conferences are adjourned to June 8. This is also the adjourned-to date date for all trials, motions and voir dires for out of custody accused. Guilty pleas and sentencing may proceed for accused in custody.
Regarding judgments and sentencing: for accused in custody trials and sentencing decisions will be delivered on the date scheduled, and guilty pleas and sentencing may proceed. Counsel or self-represented accused should communicate electronically.
Those accused not in custody, trial decisions will be adjourned by telephone or other electronic means.
For civil proceedings, only urgent and emergency civil matters will be heard by the court in chambers. All civil trials scheduled to commerce prior to May 31 are adjourned. All family law trials and pre-trials currently scheduled prior to May 31 are also adjourned.
