Legacy of former chief judge Lucie Rondeau, the ACCES division of the Court of Quebec gives way to a court specializing in sexual and domestic violence. She should have completely disappeared from the courts by November 2026.
Under the law aimed at creating a specialized court adopted in 2021, “when a ministerial decree is adopted in order to deploy a pilot project in a judicial district, the ACCES Division becomes the Specialized Division for sexual violence and domestic violence,” confirmed the Court of Quebec in Duty.
In practice, therefore, the specialized division enshrined in the law has replaced the ACCES divisions throughout Quebec, except in Longueuil, Montreal and Gatineau, where pilot projects have not yet been launched. However, this must be done “by November 30, 2026, in line with the deployment of the specialized court itself throughout Quebec,” confirms Audrey Lepage, press secretary to the provincial Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette. From then on, the ACCES divisions will be replaced by the specialized division.
The fate of the specialized court and its cohabitation with the ACCES division raised questions at the time, since the court had been set up against the wishes of Judge Rondeau. The magistrate had outpaced Minister Jolin-Barrette by announcing in 2021 her intention to create the ACCES division (for “Charges in a marital and sexual context”) within the Court of Quebec.
The mere name of the specialized court upset the Court of Quebec and the Judicial Council, both of which were chaired by Judge Rondeau. Minister Jolin-Barrette partly agreed with the magistrate’s arguments by proposing to create within the court a “specialized division” in matters of sexual and domestic violence. The fact remains that the Court’s proposal to create its own division acted like a sword of Damocles endangering the specialized court, which had worried the oppositions.
Given the many questions about the cohabitation of the two divisions, The duty requested the Court of Quebec on the work of the ACCES division on August 22, 2023. The Court finally responded to this request more than half a year later, on March 7.
Lucie Demers, executive assistant to the current chief justice, Henri Richard, recalled that the ACCES division “relies on the administrative powers of the Court of Quebec which come from the Courts of Justice Act”. The change can therefore “be deployed without particular restriction in a judicial district as soon as the Court considers that the circumstances permit it and where a pilot project of a specialized court is not deployed”, she added.
While waiting for the arrival of a specialized division like the one desired by Quebec, the Court therefore ensures with its ACCES division adapted hearing management, in a reserved room, explained Me Demers.