Superior Court of Québec: Divisional Meeting (Montréal)

Overview

In this seminar, participants explored a broad range of subjects relevant to the performance  of their duties. The topics were chosen to be of interest to all the Court’s judges whether they hear civil  or criminal cases, or both.  

Objectives

This one-and-a-half-day seminar featured various learning methods (lectures, clicker  questions, breakout discussions, panel interviews) to help participants gain new insight on various  topics, develop new competencies, and acquire tools they can apply in their daily work as judges.  Participants were also made aware of the social context surrounding some of these subjects. 

Summary

This divisional meeting focused on the three dimensions of judicial education, namely  developing substantive knowledge, improving skills and competencies, and gaining awareness of the  social context surrounding various law and justice issues. At the start of the training, issues related to  self-represented litigants and contempt of court were studied in depth. Other sessions discussed  safeguard orders in family matters, notification outside Québec, and emojis, emoticons and other  pictograms and how the law deals with them. Finally, the education seminar included two optional  sessions on digital resources offered by the National Judicial Institute to help judges work more  efficiently.