2011 MBPC 17, 2011 MBPC 17

2011 MBPC 17 FD10-65-04541 IN THE PROVINCIAL COURT OF MANITOBA (FAMILY DIVISION) THOMPSON CENTRE THE HONOURABLE ) ASSOCIATE CHIEF JUDGE ) M.P. THOMPSON ) Thursday, the 24 th day of February, 2011 TIFFANY NORMA COOK Applicant, - and – JASON FREDERICK PAUL HILL , Respondent. DECISION ON MOTION TO EXPUNGE [ 1 ] I am dismissing the respondent’s motion to expunge portions of the applicant’s affidavit. [ 2 ] This is the first motion for expungement I have faced in nearly eight years on the bench. [ 3 ] The Provincial Court of Manitoba prides itself on being a court of

summary jurisdiction. We encourage parties and their counsel to get to the merits of a case rather than get bound up in technical disputes.

[ 4 ] Far too much focus and effort has been directed at the technical merits of this case. [ 5 ] It has been said that motions for expungement, in some jurisdictions, have become a cottage industry. This is not the type of cottage or industry we want to encourage in Provincial Court. [ 6 ] This is not to say we do not have rules in Provincial Court.

If counsel feel strongly that an affidavit contains highly prejudicial or inadmissible evidence, their recourse is to raise it in argument and ask that the appropriate amount of weight, if any, be given to the offending evidence. [ 7 ] The objections raised by counsel for the applicant are not of a significant a nature to warrant expungement. __________________ M.P. THOMPSON ACJ