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In April 2020, FOLA, along with the Advocates’ Society, the Ontario Bar Association, and the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, created the joint E-Hearings Task Force to review technologies that can help ensure Ontario’s justice system continue to function during and following the coronavirus pandemic. 

On May 13, 2020, the e-Hearings Taskforce released some helpful documents (linked below) on best practices to help provide guidance to anyone who is considering preparing for and participating in a remote hearing.  A 2nd Version of the English version of the Best Practices for Remote Hearings was released on May 28th, 2021.

ENGLISH VERSIONS (2ND EDITION) (Published May 28, 2021

• Best Practices for Remote Hearings, Second Edition (PDF)
• Overview of the Best Practices for Remote Hearings (PDF)
• Checklist: Preparing Your System for a Remote Hearing (PDF)
• Checklist: Counsel Preparation in Advance of Meeting with Adjudicator (PDF)
• Checklist: Matters to Consider Reviewing with Judge In Advance of Hearing (PDF)
• Checklist: Preparing Your Witness for a Remote Hearing (PDF)
• Sample Virtual Hearing Protocol (PDF)

FRENCH VERSIONS (Published November 23, 2021)

• Aperçu des pratiques exemplaires pour les audiences tenues à distance 
• Pratiques exemplaires pour les  audiences tenues à distance, Deuxième édition
• Liste de contrôle : Préparation de votre système pour une audience à distance
• Liste de contrôle : Préparation de l’avocat avant la rencontre avec le décideur
• Liste de contrôle : Questions à examiner avec le juge avant l’audience
• Liste  de contrôle : Préparer un témoin à une audience à distance
• Exemple de protocole relatif à la tenue d’une audience virtuelle

WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK!  If you've participated in a remote hearing and have some additional suggestions, we'd love to hear them!  Please email Katie Robinette at katie.robinette@fola.ca and put "REMOTE HEARINGS" in the subject line. 

Best Practices for Remote Examinations for Discovery & Best Practices for Remote Mediations (published May 13, 2020)

 The OTLA prepared a submission to the Courts and MAG regarding the Modernization of Ontario's Civil Justice System.   Chapter 4 covers: Best Practices for Remote Examinations for Discovery

Chapter 5 covers: Best Practices for Remote Mediations

You can download the report here.

Infrastructure Ontario (IO) is nearing completion of their installation of permanent sensors/data loggers for the measurement, recording and reporting of daily temperature, relative humidity (RH) and carbon dioxide (CO2) readings to support ongoing HVAC management activities. This new system replaces the way data is currently measured and reported. 

With this new system in place, the temperature, RH and CO2 daily readings will be uploaded to a new cloud-based website where individuals can access up-to-date daily readings, ask questions directly to IO, download relevant reports, and share the information with their staff, members or colleagues. IO and CBRE are also currently working to include a summary section, noting all out-of-range readings. It is anticipated that this summary section will be available on the new website later in August.

BACKGROUND

MAG’s Recovery Secretariat began distributing daily readings manually in July 2020, in response to staff and stakeholder interest and concern about COVID-19 at that time. Since then, understanding about the virus has evolved, including about modes of transmission and effective mitigation strategies – and Ontario has continued to see a consistent and promising decline in COVID-19 cases over the past several weeks. 

While the government’s collective understanding about COVID-19 may continue to evolve, MAG has received the following assurances from the Chief Medical Officer of Health’s Office:

• when the preventative measures in place within our courthouses are properly followed, they are robust and effective at mitigating the risk of transmission of all known variants of COVID-19;
• there is no change in the current understanding about modes of transmission of the virus, including the new COVID-19 variants of concern; and 
• no new recommendations have been suggested to enhance or improve the preventative measures we already have in place within our courthouses, including to the HVAC systems. 

Provincial health and safety advisors continue to support that transmission of COVID-19 can be addressed through a comprehensive suite of preventative measures such as entrance screening, physical distancing, masking, improved ventilation and barriers – all of which we have in place in our courthouses. Through implementation of these measures, the reduction in the risk of COVID-19 transmission, inclusive of aerosol transmission, is being achieved.

Diligently following the government’s health and safety protocols is more critical than ever, in light of the more highly transmissible variants of concern.  The primary and critical mitigation measures include entrance screening, respiratory etiquette (e.g. sneeze or cough into your sleeve), physical distancing, appropriate masking, and proper hand hygiene. 

Adequate ventilation is an additional consideration, that can support risk mitigation, in combination with the critical primary precautionary measures noted above (CO2 is a proxy indicator of overall ventilation, but does not directly correlate with any risk of transmission of COVID-19).

What Does This Mean For You?

A generic username and password to access IO’s new website is provided below (along with a User Guide in both English and French), so that you can begin to access the HVAC data yourself, if you wish to review it (in any of our courthouse locations). 

Important: Please ensure you share this login information broadly with your staff and/or members who may wish to access HVAC information. It is also important that individuals accessing the system do not change the generic username or password provided, as this will lock others out of the system. 

HVAC Portal Website Address: https://iopropertyservices.energymetricsllc.com/login 

Generic Username: MAGIAQData

Generic Password: Summer2021!!

USER GUIDE - ENGLISH

USER GUIDE - FRENCH

Please note: IO will continue to have performance threshold targets in place for CO2(800ppm), RH (35% – 65% for the summer months) and temperature (26 degrees C) – for clarity, these performance targets are in place for monitoring purposes - to inform and guide ongoing operational management measures – and they do not represent a standard that requires adherence or cause for concern about your health & safety. 

As noted in IO’s HVAC User Guide, IO Property Services is adjusting the RH performance thresholds from the heating season (mid-October through April) threshold of 25% to 60% to the cooling season (May through September) threshold range of 35% to 65%.

Current HVAC management practices will continue: where there are two consecutive out of range readings (including any readings that fall outside the cooling season range of 35% to 65%) at the same specific location within the building (e.g. courtroom #1) within the same day, a ticket (work order) is generated to have IO Property Services, the Project Company (P3 sites) or the landlord investigate the issue and opportunities to make system adjustments, as required. 

IO, ProjectCo (P3 sites) and landlords are committed to continually optimizing ventilation in the courthouses.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact the Recovery Secretariat 

Questions about HVAC may continue to be directed to IO at: https://IOPropertyServices.cbre.com