NWT Territorial Court no longer requires that people wear masks in its courtrooms, dropping a requirement that had existed almost continuously since June 2020.
The NWT Supreme Court dropped the requirement to wear a mask in June last year, but Territorial Court – aside from a brief period in 2022 – had maintained mandatory masking.
Differing sets of rules between the two courts routinely caused confusion.
A notice issued on Friday last week ended the Territorial Court’s masking requirement.
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The notice, signed by courts administrator Denise Bertolini, stated: “No one will be required to wear a mask in a Territorial Courtroom unless a judge orders otherwise.”
The Territorial Court system had been one of the last public arenas in which masks were mandatory in the NWT. The territory’s public health emergency related to the Covid-19 pandemic ended in April 2022.
