COVID-19 and the courts: Answers to frequently asked questions

The date and time of a “first appearance” is listed in your release documents.

If you do not have your release documents, contact the courthouse managing your criminal matter to obtain them.

If you have the date of your last court appearance, you can look up your next court date online. Visit the Criminal Case Adjournment Dates—Out-of-Custody Accused page and scroll down to the chart for court schedules.

You can also check the Daily Court Lists to see if your name is on the schedule for an appearance today or tomorrow.

Note: To access Daily Court Lists, you must first read the terms and conditions on the page and click ‘I Agree’ and ‘Enter’ at the bottom of the page.

If your name does not appear on the Daily Court List, contact the court where your criminal matter is managed for more information.

Contact the court where your criminal matter is managed if you are not sure of the date of your court appearance, and/or whether you need to attend in person, by video, or by phone.

Information about how to participate by video or phone is provided on this page in the section titled ‘Attending a virtual criminal court appearance using Zoom’.

Check the Superior Court of Justice’s online daily court list.

Your first court date is called a “first appearance”. This is not your trial date.

At your “first appearance”, you will get information about the case against you and what options may be available to you. Depending on how you want to handle the charges (plead innocent or plead guilty), you may or may not require a trial.

Visit Steps to Justice for helpful information about the “first appearance”.

The Ministry of Attorney General (MAG) provides court-specific accessibility information sorted by location.

When you select a courthouse, you will see a list of its accessibility features, as well as the contact information for the courthouse’s Accessibility Coordinator. If you have any questions about the courthouse’s accessibility features, or if you need accessible court services, please contact the Accessibility Coordinator listed for that location.

You can get an in interpreter by contacting the court listed in your release documents. Leave a message with the following information:

1. Your full name
2. The language you are requesting
3. The date and time of your court appearance
4. The courtroom number
5. The number to call you back at

If you do not have your release documents, contact the courthouse managing your criminal matter to obtain them and to request an interpreter.

Duty counsel are lawyers provided by Legal Aid Ontario to help people who appear for court without a lawyer of their own. If you qualify for this service and need legal help on your day of court, you can speak with duty counsel over the phone. They can:

• Explain the charges against you and offer legal advice.
• Tell you about how the court process works, and your rights.
• In some cases, help you with your documents.
• In some cases, represent you in court.

Please contact Legal Aid Ontario’s call centre if you need help with one or more of the following:

• Surety and bail variations
• Bail review
• Independent Legal Advice (ILA)
• Trial matters
• Superior Court of Justice (SCJ) matters
• Legal aid certificate applications

You may speak with duty counsel if you have an upcoming court date within the next five business days or less. Please make sure to have your disclosure package with you when you call.

If your court date is more than five business days away, please contact us at 1‑800‑668‑8258 for a referral to speak with a criminal summary legal advice lawyer (SLAC).

Contact information for duty counsel is available on the Ministry of Attorney General website.

Leave a message with the following information:

1. Your full name
2. The date and time of your court appearance
3. The courtroom number
4. The charges against you (which are listed in your release documents)
5. The number to call you back at. You may also leave an email address if it is safe for you to receive email from duty counsel there.

If you do not have your release documents, contact the courthouse managing your criminal matter to obtain them and to request an interpreter.

Only contact local duty counsel if you have an upcoming court date within the next 5 days or less. Otherwise, please contact us at 1‑800‑668‑8258 for a referral to speak with a criminal summary legal advice lawyer (SLAC).

If you are having difficulty finding the contact information for duty counsel serving your location, please call us at 1‑800‑668‑8258 for help.

If you do not get a call back from duty counsel within 48 hours of leaving a message, contact us at 1‑800‑668‑8258 for a referral to speak with a criminal summary legal advice lawyer (SLAC). Please make sure that you have your disclosure package before calling.

Duty counsel provide legal services to accused people attending court, either in person, by video, or by phone, without a lawyer of their own. You must meet a financial test to qualify for duty counsel services.

Criminal summary legal advice lawyers (SLAC) provide advice and information outside of court over the phone. There is no financial test to receive help from SLAC.

If you do not get a call back from a criminal summary legal advice lawyer (SLAC) within 15 business days, call us at 1‑800‑668‑8258. Please make sure you have your disclosure package when you call.

Disclosure is a package of information about your criminal case that the Crown will use to try to convict you. Your disclosure package may include:

• The Crown Screening Form (CSF)
• Investigating police officer notes
• Witness statements
• Photographs

If you do not have a lawyer, contact the Crown Attorney’s office to obtain your disclosure package.

If your matter is before the Ontario Court of Justice (OCJ), contact the provincial Crown Attorney serving the courthouse where your matter is being heard.

If your matter is before the Superior Court of Justice (SCJ), contact the federal Crown Attorney serving the courthouse where your matter is being heard.

To get a copy of your disclosure, you will have to verify your identity for the Crown by providing the following information:

• Date of birth
• List of charges
• Police occurrence number (found on your release papers)
• Email address and phone number

After you get your disclosure package, you can review it with a lawyer to find out what options you have. If you seek help from duty counsel, they will ask to see your disclosure package so that they can provide you with appropriate legal advice.

If your court date is within 5 business days, contact duty counsel in the court location where your matter is being heard for next steps.

If your court date is more than five days away, contact Legal Aid Ontario’s call centre at 1‑800‑668‑8258 for a referral to speak with a summary legal advice lawyer (SLAC). Make sure to have your disclosure package with you for this call.

In the past, disclosure was provided by the Crown on disk or paper. Now, disclosure is also available in an electronic format, sent by email.

Contact the federal or provincial Crown Attorney’s office to request your disclosure in your preferred format.

Zoom is an online application that allows you to participate in a meeting by video or phone. Because of the COVID‑19 health crisis, many court appearances are taking place using Zoom. Court appearances scheduled to take place using Zoom are sometimes referred to as ‘virtual case management court’.

A Zoom account is not required to participate in virtual case management court hearings. You will need to download the application to your device (computer or smartphone) if you want to attend court by video. You can download Zoom for free at https://zoom.us/.

To attend your hearing, open the application and enter your meeting ID.

Make sure to do so at least 15 minutes before your court appearance starts and wait to be admitted.

More detailed instructions are available from:

• The Zoom User Guide for Remote Hearings in the Ontario Court of Justice provides detailed instructions on how to attend your court appearance by video.

• Zoom’s step-by-step instructions on how to join a meeting, depending on the system you use to log in: Android / iOS / Web browser / email.

Yes, you can phone in to attend court taking place using Zoom. You will need the phone number and meeting ID for the courtroom where your matter is taking place.

If you do not know which courtroom your legal matter is taking place in, you can check your release papers or contact the court location that is handling your matter.

Make sure to call into the meeting at least 15 minutes before your court appearance starts and wait to be admitted.

You may receive an email invitation to the court proceeding from the Ontario Court of Justice (OCJ) providing the meeting ID number.

If you do not receive an invitation to the hearing by email, the OCJ provides courthouse-specific scheduling and connection information that you can reference to join your court appearance by video or phone. Your meeting ID number and contact information for local duty counsel is also listed.

You will see the following when you click on this link:

Select the city where your matter is taking place to access information specific to your court appearance.

If you are not able to find the meeting ID specific for your matter from the OCJ website, contact your lawyer. If you have not hired a lawyer, contact the court location that is handling your legal matter to get your meeting ID.

Make sure that your microphone, speaker, and/or camera is working and that you are not on mute. Then, let the court know that you are present for the proceedings.

Zoom offers great troubleshooting tips including help with video and audio.

The Zoom User Guide for Remote Hearings in the Ontario Court of Justice also provides step-by-step instructions to help you use Zoom to attend your appearance.

Contact the courthouse right away to notify them and to find out what other options may be available to you.