Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba Education Seminar

Overview

The first day of this seminar was divided into specialized programs for the General Division and the Family Division.  The General Division session focused on warrants and wiretaps, including section 8 Charter considerations, while the Family Division session focused on jurisdictional issues, inter-jurisdictional judicial communication and the Division’s new scheduling model.  Judges from both Divisions attended the final day of the seminar that focused on social media evidence in family, civil and criminal cases.

Objectives

The objectives of the General Division portion of this seminar were to enhance participants’ understanding of the grounds for granting warrants and wiretap authorizations, the practical aspects for obtaining these orders, and post-execution review issues.  The objectives of the Family Division portion of this seminar were to enhance participants’ understanding of the jurisdictional issues and use of inter-jurisdictional judicial communication in family law cases.  The objective of the final day was to enhance participants’ understanding of social media evidence.

Summary

Led by senior judges, lawyers and academics, the program content was presented through a mix of presentations and interactive exercises.  Warrant and wiretap sessions examined Charter issues, including the reasonable expectation of privacy, Garofoli applications, and practical considerations in granting or denying applications.  Family law jurisdictional presentations focussed on common law principles, paramountcy, parens patriae, statutory jurisdiction, jurisdictional limitations and considerations for the exercise or non-exercise of jurisdiction in certain cases, as well as inter-jurisdictional judicial communication.  The social media sessions explored authentication, best evidence, hearsay, and surreptitiously obtained electronic evidence.