Angle droit sur la visiojustice! Petit décalogue à l’usage du praticien

The use of audiovisual technology in the courtroom is no longer a novelty in Canada and in Quebec. In all the provinces and across all court levels, remote appearances are becoming ubiquitous, taking the form of phone conferences, video-conferences or through the assistance of integrated technologies which combine voice, video, and voice and text recognition. However, the use of these remote appearances remains at the discretion of the court. The judge alone may determine if "the technological mean is proportionate to the circumstances of the case" – section 26 of the new Code of Civil Procedure. As such, the court always has the final word. The Quebec practitioner will therefore ask the following question: which elements must be taken into consideration in order to authorize or refuse a remote appearance? This paper will respond to this question by identifying ten fairly constant criteria (delays and costs, reliability issues with the technology, personal circumstances of the witness, assessment of credibility, importance of the testimony, witness’s personality and psychological fitness, importance of the dispute and complexity of the proceedings, language issues, etc.).

This content has been updated on 14 December 2019 at 18 h 17 min.