Travis Vader arrives at court in Edmonton on Tuesday, March 8, 2016. The verdict in his murder trial -- he's accused of killing two Alberta seniors who were on a camping trip -- will be live-streamed in an historic moment for Canadian courts. For those who support cameras in the courtroom, this is a step in the right direction — toward a justice system that is publicly accessible in both theory and practice — and away from archaic rules that still prohibit even still photography in courtrooms. We may even be closer than ever to having criminal or civil trials broadcast in full — though that remains a contentious issue among justice system players. A Manitoba pilot project which began in 2014 aims to automatically broadcast cases assigned to specific courtrooms, but is limited to cases that do not involve the testimony of witnesses, and specifically excludes cases involving sexual-assault cases or youths.

Source: thestar September 15, 2016 01:30 UTC