The Province of British Columbia has extended its declaration of a state of emergency in response to COVID-19 for another two-weeks, to June 9, 2020.
In a news release, Premier Hogan also expressed that there is likely no end in sight to this state of emergency, suggesting it will be extended further after June 9, 2020.
We recently wrote about Ministerial Order M098 (see our post here), which suspends every mandatory limitation period for civil and family law claims commenced in the Provincial Court, Supreme Court or Court of Appeal (with the exception of those under the Builders Lien Act, SBC 1997 c 45 and Division 5 of Part 5 (Builders Liens and Other Charges) of the Strata Property Act, SBC 1998 c 43).
Ministerial Order M098 remains in effect until the state of emergency declared on March 18, 2020 expires or is cancelled. This is in contrast to the similar Ministerial Order made in Alberta, which is set to expire on June 1, 2020 (see our post on this Ministerial Order here).
As a result, all B.C. limitation and other time periods suspended under Ministerial Order M098 remain suspended until June 9, 2020, unless a further Ministerial Order is provided.
We continue to closely monitor the progressing COVID-19 situation and will provide updates as they are available.
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The news release regarding the extension of the state of emergency may be viewed here.
A copy of Ministerial Order M098 may be viewed here.