News & Announcements

A Collaborative Law Process is hereby designated a dispute resolution process for the purpose of Rule 4.16(1) and the Mandatory ADR Rules if it meets the criteria specified in this Notice.

The current agreement between the Government of Alberta and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees includes a provision for Christmas closure. The Court of Queen’s Bench will be closed on December 24, 2019 and through January 1, 2020, inclusive. On December 24, 30 and 31, 2019 a Justice will be available in Calgary to hear any emergency matters and emergency protection order reviews during this time.

The Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta will initiate a pilot project intended to facilitate the orderly conduct and early resolution of litigation in estate matters. Initially, this project will only be undertaken in the Edmonton and Calgary Judicial Centres and will apply to estates in respect of which a Form C1 or a Statement of Claim is filed after December 31, 2019.

There have been reports of a scam where people are receiving automated phone calls about jury duty. The Court will never contact you by an automated phone call about Jury Duty or ask a potential juror for financial information over the phone.

The three Alberta Courts have embarked on an initiative to make eagle feathers available for witnesses to swear upon should they want to do so. A ceremony to formally mark the introduction of the eagle feather in all the Alberta courthouses will be held in Calgary and Edmonton on November 8, 2019 at 10:00 am.

Following recent decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Barton and R. v. Goldfinch, the Court updated the Criminal Pre-Trial Conference Report (Form CC7) to include additional questions with respect to the admission of evidence under ss. 276 and 278 of the Criminal Code. Please use the updated CC7 Form on a go forward basis.

Effective October 1, 2019, Justices hearing Chambers applications will no longer refer matters to the Chief Justice or the Associate Chief Justice with a recommendation that the matter be placed under case management, unless case management is a requirement (for example, under Family Law Practice Note 8, civil jury trials and class action proceedings).

We are pleased to announce the dates of the swearing-in ceremonies of Justice Nicholas E. Devlin and Justice Johanna C. Price.

In order to better align the Court’s detention review process under s.525 of the Criminal Code with the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R v Myers, 2019 SCC 18, the Court of Queen’s Bench has amended its Criminal Forms CC4 and CC5.

A profile on the Honourable Justice Michael J. Lema, Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta.