September is bringing important changes to the Ottawa criminal court system. A new bail court and new bail system as well as some new additions are among some of the new changes to look for this month.

If you are familiar with the Ottawa Ontario Court of Justice, you will probably have to get reacquainted with this court as some changes have and are about to happen.

What's Changing?

Since September 5th, the main bail court is no longer courtroom number 6 but courtroom number 3.  Though this change is more of an administrative nature, a more major change is happening in the bail system itself: justices will no longer be presiding over bail hearings but judges will assume that role from now on.

Traditionally in Ottawa, justices presided over bail hearings. Unlike a judge, a justice does not have to have a legal background. This means that a justice is not necessarily someone who was a lawyer before, and it is common that a justice does not even have a law degree. The law allows, however, for a justice to hear a bail hearing.

Criminal Justice System

Due to the issues that were being raised with regards to the criminal justice system, such as the delays in having trials, the overcrowding of the jails and the horrible conditions in which inmates are living in remand centers, there was a mounting pressure to bring changes to the criminal justice system. One such change is that judges will from now on be sitting in bail courts and presiding over bail hearings in the hope that this will allow the proceedings to be more efficient and faster and ultimately will lead to more fairness to accused individuals. Having judges preside over bail hearings will allow the parties to have early on in the proceedings the input of a judge, who is experienced and trained in the law. A judge at the bail stage will be in a position to guide the parties from the onset on how things should proceed efficiently.

Indigenous Peoples Court

Another major change to look for this month will be the official start of an Indigenous peoples court. This is a long time coming as in some other areas in Ontario, there are already such courts that deal with the particular circumstances and issues that Indigenous peoples go through. The opening ceremony for this court took place at the end of the month of August.

These are some of the major changes happening this month in the Ottawa courthouse.