Cameras to watch Ontario courtroom

TORONTO -- Ontario residents will soon be among the first in Canada to watch the wheels of justice turn from the comfort of their living rooms, Attorney General Michael Bryant said yesterday as he detailed a plan to install cameras inside the Ontario Court of Appeal. The cameras, which are expected to start rolling by the spring, are the first step in a journey that will eventually allow viewers to watch the proceedings inside all the province's courtrooms, Bryant said. "I think it is inevitable that we are going to have cameras and radio broadcasts in the courtrooms of our nation so that everybody can see what the public moments of our justice system are," Bryant said. The cameras would make Ontario the first province to televise Appeals Court proceedings. The province will examine the Appeals Court experiment before deciding whether to legislate the use of cameras in all Ontario courtrooms, although Bryant was quick to add they likely won't televise certain proceedings, such as witness testimony.

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