There鈥檚 no good reason that every dispute over a strata noise or pet bylaw should go to court, so the sa国际传媒 government鈥檚 proposed online tribunal makes a lot of sense. But care should be taken that it doesn鈥檛 evolve into a system of automated justice.
Attorney General Suzanne Anton introduced legislation this week that would eventually make it mandatory for people to take claims of less than $10,000 to a Civil Resolution Tribunal. She said the tribunal would help resolve small-claims matters more quickly and less expensively than going to court.
People will be able to get access to the tribunal 24 hours a day from a computer or a smartphone. The tribunal will encourage early resolution of disputes through 鈥渁 collaborative, problem-solving approach,鈥� according to a Justice Ministry statement.
People will still have the right to take matters to court, though, and that鈥檚 important. We have come to expect instant access to services through our electronic devices, so it should be no surprise that when it comes to settling disputes, there鈥檚 an app for that. But we should be wary of relying on automation for everything 鈥� some matters will still require face-to-face contact and human interaction.
No matter how many times we hear the message: 鈥淵our call is important to us,鈥� its computer-generated sincerity is still unconvincing.
