2.1 General Principle of Public Accessibility

In general, once process is issued (i.e., an Information is sworn and an arrest is made or a summons is served), criminal court files and documents are publicly accessible, unless legislation, common law rule or a court order restricts access.

2.2 Criminal Court Files and Documents with Restricted Access

Exceptions to this general principle of public accessibility are outlined below:

2.2.1. Documents in Youth Criminal Justice Act Proceedings

General Rule:

Court files and documents of Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) proceedings or other proceedings that make reference to YCJA information (e.g., Parental Responsibility Act Small Claims Court actions (section 3.2.1), child protection cases (section 4.2.1), or Mental Health Act (MHA) proceedings (section 2.2.9)) are not accessible to the public, unless the young person receives an adult sentence and:

• the appeal period has elapsed; or
• an appeal has been heard and the court of appeal has upheld the adult sentence, and
• there is no publication ban in place (s. 75(3) YCJA).

YCJA records are accessible to persons listed in s.119 of the YCJA, or if a court order is obtained pursuant to s.119(1)(s) of the YCJA.

Exception for information about courtroom location and future court dates:

Daily court lists providing the courtroom location for YCJA matters are available to the public.  These lists include the initials of a young person and the charges they are facing.

Future court dates in YCJA matters are available to the public if sufficient information is provided to allow court staff to access the information in a reasonable amount of time.  To obtain the information, the request must include the full name of the young person.   Any of the following additional information will assist in accessing the information:

• court file number;
• last court date;
• charges against the young person; and
• date of birth.

Alternatively, the request can include the young person’s initials, along with the last court date and court location. 

If an exclusion or sealing order has been made in the YCJA matter, disclosure of next court date information is not permitted.

2.2.2. Pre-Enquête Documents and Recordings

Intake is presided over by a justice of the peace and is a forum for the police and individuals to bring Informations before a justice of the peace in order to lay criminal charges.

The justice of the peace may conduct a pre-enquête hearing to determine whether legal process should issue (i.e., whether an Information is sworn and then whether to issue process by way of a summons or warrant). Pre-enquête hearings are not open to the public.

If Process Is Issued
For both private and Crown prosecutions, if process is issued, the documents of the pre-enquête hearing become publicly accessible once the defendant has been arrested or the summons has been served, unless there are legislative restrictions to access (e.g., YCJA) or a court order restricts access.

If Process Is Not Issued
If process is not issued, the documents and tapes of the pre-enquête hearing are not publicly accessible.

2.2.3. Documents Relating to a Peace Bond Application

An individual or peace officer may make an application to the court for a peace bond to request that a person be ordered to keep the peace. To begin the application, the complainant presents an Information at an initial interview with a justice of the peace.

If the justice of the peace issues process, any documents relating to the application are accessible to the public once the defendant has been served with the summons (or in rare circumstances, has been arrested), unless otherwise ordered by the court. If the justice of the peace refuses to issue process, there is no public access to the documents.

2.2.4. Warrants

Warrants Under the Criminal Code

1. Search Warrants and General Warrants

Search warrants give investigators the right to search and seize property. Specialized search warrants also exist for the seizure of blood samples, controlled substances, counterfeit money, a disorderly house, drugs, hate propaganda, lumber or lumbering equipment, obscene material, precious metals and proceeds of crime.

General warrants permit peace officers to use devices or investigative techniques described in the warrant if a search and/or seizure without the warrant would violate section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure).

Search warrants and general warrants, including those under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, are publicly accessible, if:

• the warrant has not been sealed by court order;
• the warrant has been executed and a seizure has been made; and
• a Report to a Justice Form 5.2 has been made and filed with the court office or an order of detention has been received from the presiding judicial official.

Forensic DNA warrants are publicly accessible if the warrant has not been sealed by court order.

2. Sealed Warrants

Under subsection 487.3(1) of the Criminal Code (CC), the presiding judicial official may make an order sealing documents related to any warrant or any authorization to enter a place. Public access to sealed warrants is only permitted by order of the court. All documents related to sealed warrants, including electronic surveillance (e.g. wiretapping), are sealed in accordance with the terms of the sealing order.

3. Tracking Warrants and Number Recorder Warrants

Staff must seek judicial direction when a third party requests access to tracking warrants  ¹ issued under section 492.1 and number recorder warrants  ² issued under section 492.2 of the Criminal Code.

¹ A tracking warrant authorizes the use of a tracking device.
² A number recorder warrant authorizes the installation and monitoring of a telephone number recorder.

4. Warrants for Arrest

Warrants of arrest and/or copies of these warrants are generally not provided to the court. If a warrant of arrest or copy of a warrant of arrest is in the court file, court staff should treat the warrant in the same manner as the Information. Any public access restrictions that apply to the Information (e.g., YCJA) would also apply to the warrant. If the Information is publicly accessible, the warrant is accessible as well.

Unexecuted Warrants

Court staff cannot confirm the existence of an unexecuted warrant under the Criminal Code or the Child and Family Services Act. If the party requesting access does not already have confirmation that the warrant exists and has been executed, court staff can only confirm whether they would be able to provide access to a warrant, if one existed.

2.2.5. Production Orders

There are two distinct types of production orders provided for under the Criminal Code. The different public access to the two is summarized below.

Proceedings and records relating to a complainant or witness are not publicly accessible unless so ordered by the court. Production orders however, are to be managed in the same fashion as search warrants and may be publicly accessible if the requirements outlined below have been met.

Record Relating to a Complainant or Witness
A judge may grant an accused access to a record relating to a complainant or a witness. No person shall publish:

• the contents of an application by an accused who seeks production of a record;
• evidence taken, information given or submissions made; or
• the determination of the judge and reasons provided.

Production of Document
A judge or justice of the peace may order a person to produce a document or prepare a document from data under the care and control of a person. The proceedings for and documents produced are publicly accessible if:

• the production order has not been sealed by court order; and
• a Report to a Justice Form 5.2 has been made and filed with the court office or an order of detention has been received from the presiding judicial official.

2.2.6. Court Files and Documents under Criminal Code Publication Bans

When a publication ban is imposed by the court (e.g., s. 486.4 related to sexual offences or s. 517 related to judicial interim release or bail hearings) or is automatically provided for (e.g., s. 542 related to preliminary hearings), the court file and documents are still accessible to the public. Staff will notify the recipient that the file or document is under a publication ban and will warn him or her that publication, broadcasting or transmitting in any way the information governed by the publication ban could be a violation of law.

2.2.7. In Camera / Publicly-Excluded Proceedings

Under various sections of the Criminal Code  ³ , the public may be excluded in whole or in part from a court proceeding. These proceedings are known as in camera or publicly excluded proceedings. If the public is excluded from a court proceeding, the public cannot access the proceedings. If the public is excluded from a court proceeding, the public cannot access the records relating to that portion of the proceeding, except by court order.

³ s. 486(1) - Exclusion of the public in certain cases; s. 486.5(6) - Judge may hold private hearing to determine whether a publication ban under s. 486.5(1) or (2)) should be made; s. 276.1(3) and s. 276.2(1) - Evidence of complainant’s sexual activity; s. 278.4(1) and s. 278.6(2) - Production of record to accused; s. 462.34(5) - Hearing to determine reasonableness of expenses in relation to an application of review of special warrants and restraint orders; s. 672.5(6) - Exclusion of public from all or part of a disposition hearing re: mental disorder; s. 672.5(10) and s. 672.51(6) - Exclusion of accused and/or certain persons from a mental disorder disposition hearing.

2.2.8. Court Files and Documents in Section 276.1 and 278.2 Applications

Applications under section 276.1 (evidence of complainant’s sexual activity) and section 278.2 (production of record to accused) of the Criminal Code require that specific documents be filed with the court. These documents may be filed at the time of the application or before the court date.

The judicial official will consider the application in a mandatory in camera proceeding. In the case of a section 276.1 application, if the judicial official grants the application, a mandatory in camera hearing will be held to determine if the evidence is admissible. In the case of a section 278.2 application, if the judicial official orders the record be produced to the court, the judicial official may hold an in camera hearing to determine whether to produce the record to the accused.

Documents filed in advance of these mandatory in camera proceedings are not publicly accessible prior to the court hearing, except by court order.

2.2.9. Documents Dealing with the Mental Health of the Accused

Access requests for:

• assessment reports prepared for the court under section 672.11 of the Criminal Code (mental disorder);
• any written information filed with the court regarding an accused person’s fitness to stand trial; and
• any written information filed with the court regarding whether an accused person should be found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder,

must be referred to the presiding judicial official or another judge of the court if the presiding judicial official is not available.

As previously noted, any reference to Youth Criminal Justice Act information contained in Mental Health Act records is not publicly accessible.

2.2.10. Sealed Files and Documents

If the court seals a file or court document, public access is only permitted by order of the court.

2.2.11. Documents Relating to Absolute and Conditional Discharges

The Criminal Records Act of Canadadenies public access to criminal records: 

• after one year, if the defendant has received an absolute discharge; or
• after three years, if the defendant has received a conditional discharge.

The Province of Ontario has adopted this policy with regard to court documents that are the subject of an absolute or conditional discharge.

If an absolute or conditional discharge has been ordered, court staff must not allow access to If an absolute or conditional discharge has been ordered, court staff must not allow access to the court documents and must not disclose the existence of these documents to any person, after the specified periods noted above, to any one other than the person who is the subject of the discharge or counsel acting on his or her behalf. Requests for access by the person who is the subject of the discharge must be made in writing to the court.

2.2.12. Documents Relating to a Pardon

If a pardon has been granted, documents relating to the original conviction in the custody of a department or agency of the Government of Canada are not publicly accessible, without prior approval of the Federal Minister of Justice. The Province of Ontario has adopted this policy with regard to court documents that are the subject of a pardon.

If a pardon has been granted, court staff must not allow access to the court documents and must not disclose the existence of these documents to any person, other than the person who is the subject of the pardon or counsel acting on his or her behalf. Requests for access by the person who is the subject of the pardon must be made in writing to the court.

2.3       Index Books

In criminal cases, index books are not accessible to the public, as they may contain information about documents for which access is prohibited.

2.4 Dockets and Case Event Lists

2.4.1. Pre-Court Docket and Case Event List

The pre-court docket or case event list is a list of names of the accused persons and the charges scheduled to be heard in a specific courtroom, on a specific date, and at a specific time.

Pre-enquête and Youth Criminal Justice Act dockets must remain confidential and are not publicly accessible. All other pre-court dockets are publicly available.

Court staff must make pre-court dockets or case event lists available to the public at no charge, by either posting the docket or list in a location convenient to the public or by making it available at the court counter.  If a copy of the docket or list is requested, staff should charge the prescribed copy fee.

2.4.2.   Post-Court Docket and Case Event List

The post-court docket or case event list is the same as the pre-court docket or list, with notes outlining the judicial decisions for each charge listed.

The post-court docket or list is publicly accessible, unless the docket or list includes cases that:

• have been sealed;
• are subject to a specific court order restricting access;
• pertain to youth matters; or
• are outside legislated disclosure periods (e.g., access to some matters are time limited, including absolute and conditional discharges, as outlined in section 2.2.10).

Court staff must make post-court dockets or lists available to the public for viewing at no charge. If a copy of the docket or list is requested, staff should charge the prescribed copy fee.

NOTE: Due to storage limitations in the court office, some older court dockets and lists may not be immediately available at the court counter. The time required to access older dockets and lists that are not stored in the court office might be longer.

2.5 Provincial Offences Act Court Documents

As noted previously in Section 1.1, municipal partners administer court files and documents in Provincial Offences courts under a transfer agreement with the province. In general, court documents related to the Provincial Offences Act ( POA) are publicly accessible, unless otherwise ordered by the court.

However, the following court documents for Provincial Offences Act proceedings are not publicly accessible:

• applications for an order of examination under the Mental Health Act, unless approved by a justice of the peace,and
• all proceedings against young persons commenced under Part VI of the Provincial Offences Act.

2.6 Providing Information Over the Telephone

Publicly accessible information is available over the telephone.

2.7 Information on Criminal Records

Criminal court staff can only provide information and documents relating to matters that are either before the court or have been before the court in the past. If asked to provide information about an individual’s general criminal record, court staff must refer the inquirer to local police services.

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