In a 178-page judgment on whether or not-- in the name of access to justice-- a low-income plaintiff ought to be relieved of hearing day fees imposed by the BC government for use of a courtroom for child custody proceedings, BC Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan rules that Supreme Court hearing fees (as set out in paragraph 14 of Appendix C Schedule 1 of the governing Regulations) are an unconstitutional impediment to access to the courts.

In the second to last paragraph of his judgment, McEwan writes:

"The Court is an essential forum of that common life, and cannot perform its necessary function if it, like so much else, is subject to the values of the marketplace the government has used to justify the fees. Some things cannot be for sale."

Read the entire judgment here.