News Release

For Immediate Release
August 24, 2007

150th Anniversary Of Law Creating Crown Attorneys

Ontario is celebrating the Sesquicentennial of the Upper Canada County Attorneys Act, a foundation of today’s legal system in Ontario, Attorney General Michael Bryant announced today following a four-week educational conference involving Crown Attorneys from across the province.

“Ontario’s prosecutors are the best in the Commonwealth. These women and men are highly skilled ‘local Ministers of Justice’ who are dedicated to excellence, fairness and justice,” said Bryant.  “We are marking the anniversary of historic legislation that significantly shaped our province’s justice system as we know it.”

In 1857, a decade before Confederation, the Upper Canada County Attorneys Act established a network of local criminal prosecutors to act on behalf of the Attorney General and the Crown.  Today, more than 900 Crown attorneys, assistant Crown attorneys and Crown counsel prosecute approximately half a million charges each year. 

“Society places immense authority and trust in today’s Crown attorneys,” said Chief Justice of Ontario, the Honourable Warren Winkler.  “We rely on them to carry out their duty as protectors of justice with fairness and integrity.”

“The Crown Attorneys Act and its predecessor the Upper Canada County Attorneys Act, continue to ensure that the work of today’s Crown prosecutors is recognized by law as objective and crucial to the administration of justice in Ontario,” said Greg Goulin, incoming president of the Ontario Bar Association, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Ontario’s precedent-setting Crown attorney system has been used as a model in a number of other countries around the globe.

“Our province’s justice system is the envy of much of the modern world,” added Bryant. “I am very proud to work with Ontario Crown attorneys. They are dedicated to preserving this safe, just and civil society that we all cherish.”

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