The BC Provincial Court launched a new website in beta in September. We asked for your feedback, and we got it! We’ve made lots of improvements based on users’ comments, and we’re happy to announce the official launch of the new provincialcourt.bc.ca website this week. 
 

What the new site offers

Its URL hasn’t changed, but the new site is easier to navigate, easier to understand, and has a new, modern design. It now meets accessibility standards, has a quick exit button, more images and videos, and is mobile-friendly.  

We’ve done our best to use plain language, but where we couldn’t avoid a legal term or court jargon, you’ll find a popup explanation. You can download and save or print each page as a PDF, and you can access the Court’s social media accounts from every page. 

There’s still a media page with the popular stock photos media can download and use to illustrate court stories, and we still provide access to the Court’s judgments, including a list of recent judgments. 
 

How it’s different from our previous website

The Court’s award-winning website was one of the most viewed sites in BC related to the justice system. In 2023, it had 1,231,309 page views, 418,493 users, and 171,928 page views of its eNews articles. But its operating system was reaching the end of its life, and the ten-year-old site didn’t meet current accessibility standards. 

We still provide information on all types of cases, but in the last decade other public legal information websites have begun to provide first-rate information on Provincial Court procedures. As a result, we’ve replaced some of our detailed guides with links to selected websites offering easy-to-understand how-to information. We've also collected our information on "Courtroom basics" under "Information for all types of cases". There you'll find explanations of courtroom layout, jargon, procedures and customs, as well as an introduction to oaths and basic rules of evidence.  

We’ve improved the Court Locations pages with integrated Google Maps and made information for court users easier to find. 

Some of our most popular eNews articles have been transformed into website content pages, but we do have an efficient Search engine. If you search the title of a past eNews, or just its topic, like “oaths”, “robes”, “hearsay”, “rule of law” or “gavel”, you’ll find an updated version of the eNews content. 

We've also prepared a redirect list for some of the most visited pages in the hope that it will help frequent users find the pages they rely on. 
 

What we improved during the beta phase

We’re grateful to everyone who provided feedback using our survey. We made significant changes based on their comments, including rearranging the home page to speed up access to Court updates (formerly “Announcements”) and adding: 

• A languages tab introducing the website in ten languages with links to resources
• Quick access to the Court's well-used picklists of common order terms on the bottom navigation bar of every page
• New ways to get to our “recent judgments” and “appeals and complaints” pages by listing them on the home page under “More information”

“The Court’s goal was to create a website that is user-centered, welcoming, reliable, easy to navigate, uses plain language and offers helpful information in various mediums including videos. We hope we’ve accomplished that. 

The Court’s website is an integral part of its commitment to transparency and its communication with the public. We’ll continue our efforts to improve by evaluating its performance and seeking user input in a variety of ways.” 

-- Chief Judge Melissa Gillespie