Dear Working Group Members :
The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce represents over 800 businesses and their 20,000+ employees. We are writing to express our concerns about some of the proposed changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure.
Small and medium businesses depend on the civil justice system to address a broad range of issues including but not limited to employment issues, personal injury claims, trespassing, libel, shareholder disputes, construction liens, and breach of contract issues. It is imperative that any reforms to civil processes provide increased efficiency while ensuring that the system remains fair and accessible to all Ontarians.
We are deeply concerned that the proposed change to shift to an ‘evidence first’ model that requires parties to build their entire case immediately after filing a claim will dramatically increase the costs to participate in a civil claim. In addition, we oppose the elimination of oral discovery to be replaced with sworn witness statements, which are a much more intensive and expensive approach.
We are concerned that these changes may lead to unintended consequences that will negatively impact the local business community. Many businesses are struggling to stay afloat in these challenging economic times because of increasing operating costs, high debt levels incurred during the pandemic, and continued supply and demand uncertainty. As a result, small businesses may not have the financial ability to access justice. In addition, we are worried about the impact of these changes on small law firms, legal support services, and court reporting firms due to a reduction in demand for services.
We join the Thunder Bay Law Association and other Law Associations by calling on the provincial government to:
- Extend the consultation period to at least 12 months;
- Undertake an independent, data-driven analysis of the civil justice system;
- Engage frontline legal professionals and non-lawyers from across all regions and practice areas;
- Pilot any significant procedural changes in select jurisdictions; and
- Increase judicial appointments (including of Associate Justices) and court funding before overhauling procedures.
In addition, we call on the Working Group to:
- Undertake a regional impact assessment that specifically examines the effects of these proposed reforms on Northern Ontario and other rural and remote communities across the province; and,
- Consider and assess the direct and indirect impacts of these proposed reforms on businesses operating within and supporting the judicial system, such as law firms, court reporting firms, process servers and legal support services.
Thank you for your attention to our concerns.