Access to justice.

• Author: Mitchell, Teresa
• Position: Bench press

Norman Lavoie applied to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench for permission to file a Notice of Appeal after the usual time limit had expired. He claimed that it had always been his intention to appeal a court order concerning spousal support, but it had taken him several months to save up the $600 court filing fee. Justice Berger reviewed the history of court filing fees for Notices of Appeal and noted that the fee had increased from $30 in 1979 to $600 in 2002. He wrote "It is paradoxical that an applicant who has an arguably weak ground of appeal, but who has sufficient funds to file his appeal in a timely manner, enjoys unfettered access to the appellate court without further inquiry, whereas another, unable to raise the Provincial Government imposed fee of $600, yet armed...