Legal Research

Supreme Court of Canada Live Webcasts: Preliminary Comments

By Michel-Adrien Sheppard

The Osgoode Hall Law School blog The Court today published a commentary on live webcasts by the Supreme Court of Canada.

Since February 2009, the Supreme Court has provided live streaming of oral arguments and judges’ questions in authorized cases. The webcasts are archived.

On The Court, Daniel Del Gobbo writes favourably of the experience:

“Observers may be emboldened by the transparency of the Supreme Court?s new initiative, the comprehensibility of oral arguments, or the sensitivity of justices in asking questions. Further, observers may better understand that the process by which the court?s decisions are made involves an intricate weighing of opposing arguments and mitigating social, operational, and policy factors. This understanding may engender an appreciation for the process which runs deeper than that which they could feel reading case commentary, whether it be in one of Kirk Makin?s columns, the Canadian Abridgment Digest, or even ? dare I say it ? on TheCourt.ca. For these reasons, transmitting oral arguments via webcast cannot help but instill greater public confidence in the judiciary.”

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on July 15, 2009 (boomark / email).