Recording inside courtrooms:
Section 136(2)b of the Courts
of Justice Act is very clear. The law
states that “Nothing forbids a lawyer or a party acting in person or a
journalist from recording for the purposes of supplementing their notes in a
manner approved by the Judge”. The first
two words are “Nothing forbids”. Which
means, no one can forbid you from recording including the presiding Judge. However, the manner in which you record
should be according to what the Judge says.
The Judge cannot prohibit you from recording, they can only stipulate
the manner in which you record. This is
because, these laws were enacted several decades ago when recording equipment
was bulky. You cannot be running wires
through the courtroom disturbing everyone, hence the condition for the manner
of recording. By 1989 pocket recorders
were widely available.
The Chief Justice Howland Practice Directive
found in the Ontario Annual Practice printed prior to 2014.
Chief Justice Howland was the
Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. In 1989 Chief Justice Howland issued a
practice directive which you will find it printed in the book called the
Ontario Annual Practice printed prior to 2014.
This is what it says.
”Subject to any order made by
the presiding judge as to non-publication of court proceedings, and to the
right of the presiding judge to give such directions from time to time as he or
she may see fit as to the manner in which an audio recording may be made at a
court hearing pursuant to s. 146 [now s. 136] of the Courts of Justice Act, the
unobtrusive use of a recording device from the body of the courtroom by a
solicitor, a party acting in person, or a journalist for the sole purpose of
supplementing or replacing handwritten notes may be considered as being
approved without an oral or written application to the presiding judge.” Chief
Justice of Ontario W.G.C. Howland.
In spite of all these laws, if
you dare to record your own case in court, some Judges in the Ontario Courts of
Justice will have you arrested, kept in prison and they will not allow you to
appeal those orders. As long as Chief
Justice Madam Heather Smith was the Chief Justice of the Superior Court, one
mail to her and she used to take action.
Now the present Chief Justice Mr. Geoffrey Morawetz
says that it his not his job to ensure that the public have access to the
courts.
Why are the Judges afraid of
your recording? If you ask those who
have been to the courts, or search the internet, you will find how Judges say
one thing in court, write something different in the order. If you have the recording, you will realize
that whatever was said in court was deleted from the transcripts. That is what they are afraid of. Are the
Judges aware of all these laws? They are
fully aware. Anyway
ignorance is not a defense in criminal law.