News & Announcements

A full-time position will be available in Red Deer as a Master in Chambers under the general direction of the Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta. For full details, including a link to the application form, please refer to the full announcement.

Masking requirements and restrictions on persons who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have tested positive for COVID-19 continue to be in effect.

A revised Court of Queen’s Bench Family Practice Note 6, providing additional clarity and direction in respect of inter-jurisdictional child custody and inter-jurisdictional parental abduction applications, will come into effect on July 1, 2022.

Court of Queen’s Bench Administration has extended the cap on email, digital and fax filing fees until October 31, 2022. In addition to regular filing fees, documents that are filed digitally, by email or by fax will be charged at the rate of $1 per page, capped to a maximum of $20.

The Alberta Courts are piloting a system for completing Gladue Report Request forms through an online portal. Les tribunaux de l’Alberta lancent un projet pilote constitué d’un processus permettant de faire une demande en ligne de rapport Gladue.

Effective May 24, 2022, social distancing requirements and related capacity limits due to COVID 19 will be rescinded in some courtrooms in Alberta as noted below. While social distancing in those courtrooms will no longer be required, it is, nevertheless, still encouraged. We stress that social distancing and capacity limits remain in effect in all Provincial Court courtrooms until further notice. All restrictions in relation to masking, vaccination policies and the current use of Plexiglass remain in effect until further notice.

Effective May 19, 2022, individuals who have received a summons to attend for jury selection at the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta will no longer be required to produce an Alberta-issued COVID-19 vaccine record.

Effective June 15, 2022, Alberta lawyers will be able to file applications for certain types of grants in surrogate matters using the online Surrogate Digital Service (SDS). An instruction page for the use of SDS, including a list of key dates for counsel, is now available, here: https://surrogate.alberta.ca/.

The Court of Appeal of Alberta, Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, and Provincial Court of Alberta, have released a new Court Information Access Guide for Alberta. The CIAGA replaces the former Alberta Courts Public and Media Access Guide and applies to all proceedings in the Alberta courts. Lawyers, members of the public, and media wanting to access court information should familiarize themselves with the new CIAGA.

Effective May 2, 2022, the restrictions on access to courthouses set out in the Alberta Courts’ Notice to the Public and Legal Profession of March 26, 2020, will be lifted. Access to Alberta courthouses will no longer be restricted to the categories of individuals set out in that Notice. All other COVID-19 measures currently in place, including the use of Plexiglas barriers, mandatory masking, courtroom capacity limits, physical distancing, and vaccination policies will remain in effect until further notice.