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| Patrick Ducharme |
The charging document used in the Superior Courts of Canada is an “indictment”. The charging document used in the Provincial Courts of Canada is an “information.” Both refer to the official document upon which the charge or charges are written.
Information
An information is the sworn document that sets out the charge(s) against the accused in the Provincial Court. It is used for both adult and youth proceedings. The information is a sworn document. Generally, a peace officer swears on his/her oath that there are probable grounds to believe a particular offence or offences have been committed by the person accused of the crime.
A Justice who receives an information via section 507 by a peace officer, a public officer, the Attorney General or the Attorney General’s agent; other than an information laid before the Justice under section 505, shall, except if an accused has already been arrested with or without a warrant,
(a) hear and consider, ex parte,
(i) the allegations of the informant, and
(ii) the evidence of witnesses, where he considers it desirable or necessary to do so; and
(b) where he considers that a case for so doing is made out, issue, in accordance with this section, either a summons or a warrant for the arrest of the accused to compel the accused to attend before him or some other Justice for the same territorial division to answer to a charge of an offence.1
The hearing is ex parte and in camera. The restrictions inherent on freedoms of expression and of the press have been found to be justifiable under section 1 of the Charter.2 Transcripts of the proceedings before the Justice in camera may be provided to an accused after the proceedings have been commenced.3
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme's book, Canadian Criminal Procedure Volume 2, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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