THE ADVOCATE 841
VOL. 79 PART 6 NOVEMBER 2021
The changes are not necessarily evident simply by looking at the data, so
consider the comparison below:
B.C. Court of Appeal
Comparison of Appeals vs. Chambers
Type of Average % change Average % change Average % change
hearing length of time length of
hearing between judgment
(days) hearing (paragraphs)
and
judgment
(days)
Appeal 1.2g1.2 NC34 22.5g57.8 +159% 28.0g41.1 +47%
Chambers 1.0g1.0 NC 3.7g26.3 +611% 12.0g28.7 +139%
Viewed this way, the changes are dramatic: no change in the length of
hearings for either chambers or appeals, but a massive increase in the
length of time to issue chambers decisions (and a more limited though still
notable increase for appeal decisions). Chambers decisions also got longer
by a larger margin than did appeal judgments.
Looking at the B.C. Court of Appeal data by subject matter:
B.C. Court of Appeal
Data by Year – Subject Matter (Disaggregated)
Year Type Average Average time Average
length of between length of
hearing hearing and judgment
(days) judgment (paragraphs)
(days)
1970 Criminal NI NI 25.9
Family NI NI 28.6
General Civil NI NI 30.0
Administrative NI NI —
1980 Criminal NI NI 15.3
Family NI NI 19.8
General Civil NI NI 19.8
Administrative NI NI 3.0
1990 Criminal 1 12.4 20.6
Family 1 5.0 18.3
General Civil 1.2 27.4 25.7
Administrative 1.0 40.8 37.5