Month August 2025

BC Supreme Court Seeking Feedback on Ways to Address Delays in Civil and Family Matters

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The Supreme Court of British Columbia is seeking input from litigants, the public, organizations, and members of the bar on ways to address challenges obtaining hearing dates and ways to ensure that matters are heard in a timely manner once scheduled. The B.C. Supreme Court has formed a Civil and Family Chambers Practice Working Group to review current practices and procedures and assess possible changes for regular and long chambers.

Potential changes for consideration include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Limiting regular (short) chambers to matters with time estimates of one hour or less;
  • Establishing set time slots (e.g. 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes) rather than having parties provide estimates;
  • For all chambers matters, stricter enforcement of existing rules, e.g. page limits for notices of application and application responses, requiring properly formed legal bases, eliminating serial affidavits and strict enforcement of time estimates.

The Civil and Family Chambers Practice Working Group welcomes feedback until Friday, September 5, 2025. To provide feedback, please send an email to Chambersfeedback@bccourts.ca.

For more information, including other changes that have been proposed, please visit: https://www.bccourts.ca/supreme_court/documents/Feedback_Invited_Civil_and_Family_Chambers_Practice_Review.pdf.

Information in this post was gleaned from the official Supreme Court of British Columbia “Feedback Invited: Civil and Family Chambers Practice Review” release.

New Report Uses Socio-Legal Analysis and Data to Examine Consumer Racial Profiling

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Findings published in a new report underscore the prevalence of consumer racial profiling in Canada. The report describes consumer racial profiling as the experience of “an Indigenous, Black or other racialized persons, predominantly being followed around, singled out for scrutiny, or closely monitored by a clerk or guard who suspects they may steal or do something else criminal.”

The report uses socio-legal analysis, empirical data, and public health research to show how this underrecognized phenomenon acts as a present-day expression of colonialism and systemic racism. Consumer racial profiling represents a threat to reconciliation efforts, with the report’s authors calling for Indigenous-specific remedies to address the harms it presents. The report also discusses how consumer racial profiling is interrelated with legal consciousness, systemic discrimination, and access to justice.

Indigenous Consumer Racial Profiling in Canada: A Neglected Human Rights Issue was written by Dr. Lorne Foster and Dr. Lesley Jacobs. The report is available in full here: https://www.strongascedar.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Signed-Expert-Report-on-Indigenous-Consumer-Racial-Profiling.pdf. The official press release is available here: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/new-expert-report-reveals-harms-of-indigenous-consumer-racial-profiling-in-canada-report-submitted-as-evidence-in-canadian-tire-human-rights-complaint-879720617.html.

UK Ministry of Justice Publishes AI Action Plan for Justice

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The UK Ministry of Justice has published a first-of-its-kind document which lays out a plan to “harness the power of AI to transform the public’s experience” of the justice system in England and Wales. The Ministry of Justice’s AI Action Plan for Justice seeks to present a proportionate approach to AI adoption across courts, tribunals, prisons, probation and supporting services, noting the potential of AI to make justice more accessible, fairer, and faster.

The AI Action Plan outlines three priorities:

  • Strengthen our foundations
  • Embed AI across the justice system
  • Invest in our people and partners

In developing the AI Action Plan for Justice, the Ministry of Justice consulted the judiciary and legal services regulators.

The AI Action Plan for Justice is available online here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ai-action-plan-for-justice/ai-action-plan-for-justice.