Nova Scotia

Provincial court launches pilot project for faxing information

Nova Scotia provincial courts are launching a pilot project that will allow law enforcement agencies to securely submit some forms via fax to Halifax and Dartmouth courts.

Police will no longer need to courier copies of faxed documents to Halifax, Dartmouth courts

The Nova Scotia Provincial Court is launching a pilot project to allow some documents to be faxed, eliminating the need for police to deliver them to courthouses. (Robert Short/CBC)

The Nova Scotia Provincial Court is launching a pilot project to allow an information — a form that lists the charges against a person — to be sent by fax, according to an email from Nova Scotia Courts.

The method is not exactly new.

The provincial court developed a process for electronic filing in the spring after being forced to close to the public due to COVID-19. It was meant to be a temporary fix.

For matters within the Halifax Regional Municipality, police could use fax to send the forms to the Justice of the Peace Centre. For any other courthouses, they had to be sent to the court's administration centre.

But the process has now changed for courts in Halifax and Dartmouth.

Starting Feb. 1, all the new information forms in either Halifax or Dartmouth will be faxed to the court's administration office in Dartmouth.

Police will no longer need to courier copies of the faxed documents to the Halifax or Dartmouth courthouses.

The pilot project does not include any other courthouses in the province. It will run until the end of June.