Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the province's superior trial court. The Supreme Court is a court of general and inherent jurisdiction which means that it can hear any type of case, civil or criminal. It hears most appeals from the Provincial Court in civil and criminal cases and appeals from arbitrations. A party may appeal a decision of the Supreme Court to the Court of Appeal.

The Supreme Court Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 443, provides for a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, an Associate Chief Justice, and 95 other justices. The legislation also provides for supernumerary judges who sit hearing cases part-time. There are also 14 Supreme Court masters who hear and dispose of a wide variety of applications in chambers. The Supreme Court also has a Registrar who hears assessments relating to bills of costs, reviews lawyers' accounts, settles orders, references of various types and deals with bankruptcy discharge applications.

COVID-19 NOTICES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

NOTE: All notices are subject to change. Please refer to the Index for a list of the current notices as well as those that have been rescinded and replaced.


To subscribe to the Jury Returning notification service to receive an alert when the jury in a trial is returning to the courtroom, please click here.


ANNOUNCEMENTS


January 19, 2023
JUDICIAL RETIREMENT – THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE JAMES WILLIAMS

The Supreme Court of British Columbia announces that the Honourable Mr. Justice James Williams retired from the Supreme Court of British Columbia at Vancouver on January 18, 2023. Justice Williams was appointed to the Supreme Court on October 10, 2002.


January 12, 2023
PRACTICE DIRECTION 27 – COMMUNICATING WITH THE COURT

Chief Justice Hinkson has updated Practice Direction 27 – Communicating with the Court. This Practice Direction notes that the appropriate way to communicate with the Court is through its formal processes. Parties and counsel should refrain from sending letters, emails or other forms of direct communication to the Court unless such is authorized by the Rules of Court, the Court has given leave to do so, or there are exceptional circumstances. This Practice Direction also includes guidelines parties and counsel should follow in the limited circumstances when corresponding with the Court is permitted.


December 15, 2022
 TRIAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCES TO RETURN IN PERSON ON FEBRUARY 1, 2023

Effective February 1, 2023, trial management conferences will resume in person. Until that date, trial management conferences will continue by telephone or Teams audio pursuant to Rule 23.1-1(1) of the Supreme Court Civil Rules and Rule 22.1-1(1) of the Supreme Court Family Rules. For more information, click here. Chief Justice Hinkson has rescinded COVID-19 Orders No. 010 and No. 011 and made a related change to COVID-19 Notice No. 54 – Masters Chambers Pilot.


CURRENT COVID-19 NOTICES



December 15, 2022
 TRIAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCES TO RETURN IN PERSON ON FEBRUARY 1, 2023

Effective February 1, 2023, trial management conferences will resume in person. Until that date, trial management conferences will continue by telephone or Teams audio pursuant to Rule 23.1-1(1) of the Supreme Court Civil Rules and Rule 22.1-1(1) of the Supreme Court Family Rules. For more information, click here. Chief Justice Hinkson has rescinded COVID-19 Orders No. 010 and No. 011 and made a related change to COVID-19 Notice No. 54 – Masters Chambers Pilot.



August 24, 2022
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 55 - RESUMPTION OF CIVIL JURY TRIALS

The final day of the Province’s temporary suspension of civil jury trials is October 7, 2022, after which civil jury trials will resume. For more information, please see COVID-19 Notice No. 55.



July 15, 2022
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 54 – MASTERS CHAMBERS PILOT STARTING AUGUST 15, 2022

As set out in COVID-19 Notice No. 54, the Masters Chamber Pilot, commencing on August 15, 2022, will provide a means by which counsel can submit electronic chambers application records in PDF format through Court Services Online. Initially the Pilot will be available for matters 30 minutes or less at registries on Vancouver Island (Campbell River, Courtenay, Duncan, Nanaimo, Port Alberni, and Victoria) and Powell River. If the Pilot is successful, it will be expanded to other areas of the province and to longer matters. Detailed instructions about working with PDFs can be found here.



June 22, 2022
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 53 - CRIMINAL JURY TRIALS AFTER AUGUST 15, 2022

Effective August 15, 2022, there will be changes to criminal jury proceedings in accordance with an incremental return to pre-pandemic practice. Please click here for more information.



January 28, 2022
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 47 – COVID-19: GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR MICROSOFT TEAMS VIDEO HEARINGS

COVID Notice No. 35 – Remote Video Conference Hearings has been rescinded and replaced with COVID Notice No. 47. Participants in any kind of video hearing or conference are advised to review COVID Notice No. 47 in advance of their attendance.

 

December 1, 2021
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 29 - CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS - COVID PRE-TRIAL CONFERENCES (CV PTC)

COVID-19 Notice No. 29 - Notice Regarding Criminal Proceedings: COVID Pre-trial Conferences (CV PTC) has been rescinded, and CV PTCs will no longer be offered in criminal proceedings. CV PTCs were introduced for cases affected by the temporary suspension of trials early in the pandemic, and have not been scheduled in the past 10 months.



September 17, 2021
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 44 – USE OF THE FILE TRANSFER SERVER – INSOLVENCY AND OTHER PROCEEDINGS

COVID-19 Notice No. 44 has been revised to indicate that the Court may direct parties to use the File Transfer Server (FTS) in any kind of proceeding. Parties in insolvency proceedings only can request use of FTS. In all proceedings, parties using the FTS must adhere to the document formatting standards set out in COVID-19 Notice No. 44.

 

June 30, 2020
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 30 - CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS - APPLICATIONS UNDER S. 490 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE (FURTHER DETENTION OF THINGS SEIZED)

During the COVID-19 health emergency, the Supreme Court implemented a temporary procedure for s. 490 applications. This updated Notices describes some changes to the procedure. For more details, click here.

 

May 26, 2020
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 24 – FILING OF AFFIDAVITS OF SERVICE AND DELIVERY – CIVIL AND FAMILY MATTERS

Parties not appearing in person before the Court as a result of measures put in place during the public health emergency are required to file their affidavits of service or delivery and may do so by e-filing. For more information, click here.

 

March 27, 2020
COVID-19 NOTICE NO. 2 - NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC REGARDING AFFIDAVITS FOR USE IN COURT PROCEEDINGS

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court of Appeal for British Columbia, the Supreme Court of British Columbia, and the Provincial Court of British Columbia will make accommodations for the commissioning of affidavits in circumstances where it is not possible or is medically unsafe for the deponent to attend before a commissioner. All three levels of court will follow the same process, set out in the directives linked below:

Court of Appeal for British Columbia

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Provincial Court of British Columbia



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