Imagining Resilient Courts: From COVID to the Future of Canada's Judicial System

Abstract

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID) pandemic has challenged an array of democratic institutions in complex, unexpected and unprecedented ways. Little academic work, however, has considered the pandemic’s impact on Canada’s judicial institutions. This paper aims to fill that gap by exploring the Canadian judicial system’s response to COVID and the prospects for administering justice amidst disasters, all through the lens of resilience. After taking a forensic look at how the judicial system has managed the challenges brought on by COVID, we argue that features of resilience like self-organization, preparedness and planning, learning, and reflexive decision-making can significantly contribute to the administration of justice during future shocks. Further, we argue that methodologies from policy analysis, such as benefit-cost analysis (BCA), are useful tools for improving the court’s reflexive decision-making to stresses and shocks. We propose that the business of judging during shocks can become more integral to the “business as usual” of judicial systems. Imagining such a resilient court can be a way to step from COVID to the future of Canada’s judicial system.

Keywords: Law, Disasters, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience, Justice Systems, Benefit-Cost Analysis

JEL Classification: K10, K40, D61