The Court of Appeal of Alberta has already been at the forefront of providing Albertans with electronic access to justice and is pleased to unveil its latest development to take that to the next level. On August 31, 2020, the Court of Appeal will launch the public portal of its digital Court of Appeal Management System (CAMS). Starting Monday, in addition to filing materials electronically, counsel and self-represented litigants will have online access to all of their case materials and can retrieve other information about their appeals including the full text of all filed documents, deadlines, hearing dates, outcomes and more. CAMS already enables judges and court staff to access and work with all court files electronically.
On the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court quickly adopted a new remote hearing format. The Court utilized software, systems and equipment designed for meeting uses and adapted it for electronic hearings. The Court’s hearing schedule has been uninterrupted. The first electronic appeal hearing took place on March 30, 2020, and the Court has not looked back since. The Court recently confirmed that it will continue with remote hearings until at least November 1, 2020.
Alberta Chief Justice Catherine Fraser says:
“The Court of Appeal has made digitizing its records a priority. I am delighted that the public portal for e-filing – one of the final steps in this process – is now being launched. This will enhance the ability of litigants and their counsel to deal with matters before the Court. I applaud the members of the Bar and litigants who have taken up the challenge and moved quickly to electronic hearings and to e-filing of case materials. The better that counsel and litigants are at their role, the better we will be at ours. Our goal is to improve the delivery of justice to Canadians. Justice is about people, their lives, welfare, happiness and freedom. We are all in this together. Thanks to everyone who has made CAMS a reality and success.”
For more information, contact Heidi Schubert, Q.C., Executive Director and Registrar, Court of Appeal at Calgary.Registry@albertacourts.ca.