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By Liam Verster

Jury Trials

Input sought for civil jury process in B.C.

Aug 19, 2021 | 12:35 PM

The British Columbia government is asking the public to share their thoughts on the future of the civil jury process.

A public consultation was launched today to determine if the civil jury process should be reformed and what measures should be put in place to support courts and the individuals who use them.

The three options the government is considering are:

• Continuing with civil jury trials, with or without changes to law and practice.
• Restricting jury trials to particular cases, such as defamation, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution.
• Abolishing jury trials in civil matters.

The input from the public consultation will build on a report from the B.C. Law Institute that the Ministry of Attorney General requested.

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Jury trials were suspended in British Columbia in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and though criminal jury trials resumed in September 2020, civil jury trials are not expected to resume until October 2022.

Those who wish to contribute to the public consultation process can do so by emailing the Policy and Legislation Division, Justice Services Branch at PLD@gov.bc.ca before September 30, 2021.