On June 10, 2026, the Court of King’s Bench Statutory Rules Committee approved amendments to King’s Bench Rules 4.02, 27.02, 70.24(12), 70.24(17), 74.06(2)(e), 74.06(3)(d), Forms 4A, 4C and 70BB, and Item 2 of Form 76G of the French Version of the King’s Bench Rules. The amended Rules and Forms come into force on September 1, 2026.
On June 29, 2026, the Court of King’s Bench Statutory Rules Committee approved an amendment to subrules 70.24(6) and 70.24(31.1) to provide that the Associate Chief Justice (Family Division) may issue practice directions related to those Rules, which amendments come into force immediately.
Attached to this memorandum is a detailed list of pleadings and their procedural treatment in the court process. The attached Table of Family Proceedings applies in all Court of King’s Benchjudicial centres.
This Practice Direction comes into effect immediately.
ESTREATALS INVOLVING IN-CUSTODY ACCUSED Detention review hearings under sections 520 and 525 of the Criminal Code and estreatal hearings when an accused who is in custody at a Provincial Correctional Centre is required to attend will be subject to the following:
None of the foregoing otherwise alters or changes any existing practice directions or scheduling of these hearings. Applications with supporting materials must still be filed, and applications must still proceed, in the judicial centre in which the matter originates.
The accused will appear remotely either by video or by teleconference from the institution in which they are located, unless the trial and motion coordinator (for Winnipeg appearances) or the local trial coordinator (for appearances outside Winnipeg) is advised by counsel or a self-represented accused at least five full business days prior to the scheduled hearing date that an accused is to appear at the hearing in person (to permit sufficient time for transportation).
Counsel for the accused will appear in person in the judicial centre in which the matter originates, unless permission is granted in advance by the presiding judge for counsel to appear remotely and the judicial centre in which the hearing is taking place has the requisite video capacity for counsel to also attend remotely. When appearing remotely, counsel are to contact the coordinator for the judicial centre in which the matter is proceeding to obtain call-in instructions.
The foregoing is subject to any direction by a judge that an accused is to appear in person.
This new procedure will begin September 8, 2026. In the Winnipeg Judicial Centre, estreatal hearings, which have typically taken place on the last Monday of the month, will take place on the last Tuesday of the month.
Coming into effect: This Practice Direction comes into effect on September 8, 2026.
“Please be advised that effective April 15, 2026, and until further notice, the Associate Judges, Winnipeg Centre, will be adding a weekly list to hear without notice notices of motion that fall within the Associate Judges’ jurisdiction in the Family Division and General Division of the Court. This list will be held weekly on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. A form of Order for consideration of the presiding Associate Judge should be submitted with the required motion materials.
Nothing in this notice is meant to restrict parties from continuing to have without notice notices of motion heard on the daily Winnipeg Associate Judges’ uncontested list at 9:30 a.m. In other words, without notice motions may be filed on either list.
The new without notice list will be heard by way of teleconference. The teleconference number is 1-833-231-5001 with a Participant ID number of 5763182.”
“The purpose of this Practice Direction is to further the goal of providing timely and meaningful judicial intervention and assistance to families engaged in family disputes. It is to encourage the expeditious scheduling of a triage conference in family proceedings as is required by the Family Case Flow Scheduling Model.
Parties involved in a family proceeding are entitled to participate in a triage conference which provides the opportunity to resolve contentious matters in a timely manner. Timely access to early and meaningful judicial intervention is a cornerstone of the Family Case Flow Scheduling Model. To the extent that timely access is now being compromised by an increasing number of adjournments related to the Triage Screening List, this issue must be addressed.
Triage Screening List Adjournments
King’s Bench Rule (KBR) 70.24(16) requires a party seeking a triage conference to file and serve a Request for Triage Conference (Form 70D.2), a Certificate of Prerequisite Completion (Form 70D.3) and a triage brief on the other party at least fourteen (14) days before the triage screening date.
KBR 70.24(17) states that the responding party must file and serve their Certificate of Prerequisite Completion and triage brief no later than four (4) days before the triage screening date. Where a responding party fails to file and serve their Certificate of Prerequisite Completion and triage brief four days before the triage screening date as is required, the family proceeding is adjourned on the Triage Screening List. There have been cases where a family proceeding has been adjourned repeatedly as a result of the failure of a responding party to file and serve the required documents.
The failure of a responding party to file and serve their triage documents may be the result of the parties wishing to focus on settlement discussions. Regrettably, the failure may also be due to a responding party attempting to delay the scheduling of a triage conference.
Counsel are reminded that in the event of unnecessary delay in setting the date of a triage conference, a moving party should seek an order from an associate judge forthwith. An associate judge will grant the appropriate order and cost award if requested, to ensure that a moving party is able to proceed to triage on a timely basis
Effective February 3, 2026, where a proceeding appears on the Triage Screening List a third time, the required triage documents of the moving and the responding parties must be filed, failing which it will be struck off the List on a without prejudice basis. Only where the Associate Chief Justice has granted an adjournment, which will be granted only in exceptional circumstances, will the proceeding not be struck off the list.
A proceeding that has been struck off may be brought back on the Triage Screening List by filing a new Request for Triage Conference (Form 70D.2) and a requisition with payment of the filing fee.
Scheduling A Triage Conference
The Triage Conference Co-ordinator advises counsel and/or the self-represented party(ies) by email when all applicable prerequisites in a family proceeding have been satisfied. The email sets out the available hearing dates for a triage conference and requests that counsel and/or the self-represented party(ies) confirm their availability by return email no later than 11:00 a.m. on the Tuesday Triage Screening List.
Ms. Angie Tkachuk, Triage Conference Co-ordinator, presides over the Triage Screening List every Tuesday from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. She may be contacted by email or by teleconference.
In the event that neither counsel nor the self-represented party(ies) respond to the email from the Triage Conference Co-ordinator, the proceeding will be struck off the Triage Screening List on a without prejudice basis.
The proceeding may be brought back on the Triage Screening List by filing a new Request for Triage Conference (Form 70D.2) and a requisition with payment of the requisite filing fee.
Coming into effect
This Practice Direction comes into effect immediately.”
To reflect the obligation of a judge to ensure that a self-represented litigant has the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the hearing and has a reasonable opportunity to present his or her case to the best of his or her ability, where a motion or application involving a self-represented litigant is to be contested before a judge, prior to the hearing of the contested motion or application, a judge may require the parties to appear at one case management conference with a judge for the purpose of the judge ensuring that the contested matter is ready to proceed, to explain the process and to otherwise advise the self-represented litigant what may be expected. Such a conference may be held by the judge at the time of the appearance on the Civil Uncontested List or may be scheduled before a judge for up to a one-hour period at 9:00 a.m. on a different day.
This practice direction addresses the process by which a plaintiff may, subject to the Court’s discretion, seek to have the originating pleadings and related court records anonymized (i.e., for a plaintiff to be identified using the pseudonym “Unnamed Person” rather than their full legal name). The Court may, at its discretion, make an anonymity order to permit a plaintiff to bring proceedings anonymously in exceptional circumstances where the public interest in open courts is displaced by another important public interest.
“Please be advised that effective November 3, 2025, a new teleconference number is to be used for the Associate Judges’ Uncontested Lists in Winnipeg, Brandon and Dauphin.
The new teleconference number for all locations is 1-833-231-5001. The Participant ID numbers are as follows:
Winnipeg: 5763182
Brandon: 5999498
Dauphin: 5622817 ”
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