842 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 79 PART 6 NOVEMBER 2021
B.C. Court of Appeal—continued
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)
2000 Criminal 1.1 71.4 20.4
Family 1.1 70.2 26.0
General Civil 1.2 65.6 27.0
Administrative 1.0 97.5 20.8
2010 Criminal 1.1 44.2 34.8
Family 1.1 56.4 45.2
General Civil 1.1 50.1 35.8
Administrative — — —
2015 Criminal 1.0 52.3 33.0
Family 1.0 47.1 36.8
General Civil 1.2 54.9 44.6
Administrative 1.1 65.0 47.4
Again, a simple glance at the data does not convey the nature of the
changes over time, so a comparison from 1970 to 2015 is illustrative:
B.C. Court of Appeal
Comparison by Subject Matter
Type of Average % change Average % change Average % change
hearing length of time length of
hearing between judgment
(days) hearing (paragraphs)
and
judgment
(days)
Criminal 1.035g1.0 NC 12.436g52.3 +321% 25.9g33.0 +27%
Family 1.0g1.0 NC 5.0g47.1 +842% 28.6g36.8 +29%
General Civil 1.2g1.2 NC 27.4g54.9 +100% 30.0g44.6 +47%
Administrative 1.0g1.1 +10% 40.8g65.0 +59% 25.737g47.4 +84%
Presented in this way, the types of developments and the nuances are
apparent: no change in the length of hearing, except for administrative law
matters; modest increases in the length of decisions of all types; and arresting
increases in the time between hearing and judgment (but above all for
family matters).