Introduction

Though often overlooked and overshadowed by the experiences of the neighbouring United States, Canada's extensive and wide-ranging experiences with cameras in courts are particularly instructive for countries which share Canada's Westminster heritage and the common law principles which govern its regulation of media reporting of court proceedings.

This chapter begins its analysis of Canadian developments by considering Canada's acceptance, experience and evaluation of the televising of appellate proceedings. This aspect of Canada's experiences is unique among the jurisdictions under consideration in this book. In particular, it is noted that in contrast to its counterparts, especially in the United States and Australia, the Supreme Court of Canada has arranged to have its hearings recorded and broadcast for the past ten years. Favourably received experiments have also been carried out in other Canadian federal and provincial appellate courts, and are shown to have led the Canadian Judicial Council to qualify its opposition to in-court televising, at least with respect to such proceedings. As outlined, Canadian appeal court experiences and evaluations appear to substantiate the desirability of televising being introduced incrementally, beginning with appeal hearings, which entail the least potential risks and problems.

The clear distinction which Canadian courts draw between the televising of trials and the televising of appeal hearings has served to focus the Canadian debate's attention on evidence as to the impact of televising on trial participants.