Tomorrow the Supreme Court of Canada Will Start Publishing Plain Language Case Summaries

Starting tomorrow, the Supreme Court of Canada will publish Cases in Brief on the Court website, and on its Facebook and Twitter accounts. These are short, plain-language summaries of Supreme Court decisions.

The first such Case in Brief will be made available tomorrow at noon in the case of Carson v. The Queen.

In a statement released today to Court staff, Chief Justice Richard Wagner writes:

"We’re doing this because we want to be more transparent and accessible to Canadians—but we’re also doing it because we must. The reality is that there are fewer journalists covering the Court than ever, and those who remain are pulled in many different directions. This is an attempt to fill the gap."

"This initiative has been in the works for some time, beginning under former Chief Justice McLachlin. Because many people are involved, we have been developing the process over the last few months to find the best method and format. I personally want to thank all the staff who have helped with this, particularly the jurilinguists, law clerks, and legal counsel (...)"

"The work this Court does is important, and I strongly believe this initiative is necessary. The Court has always strived to be transparent and accessible to the Canadian public, and that’s exactly what we’re doing."