Showing 21 - 30 of 58 results

Restraining orders

Last updated July 18, 2023

Are you worried that your partner or your ex will hurt you or your children? You can get a restraining order from a family court judge, which means that the person you’re getting it for won’t be able to: come within a certain distance of you and your children come within a certain distance of…

What is a surety?

Last updated January 11, 2023

A surety is a person who comes to court and promises to supervise an accused person while they are out on bail. A surety also promises an amount of money to the court if the accused doesn’t follow one or more of the bail conditions or doesn’t show up to court when required. If you…

What to do before your first appearance at criminal court

Last updated March 2, 2023

Whether you’re released by the police or on bail, you will get a piece of paper called a release document that gives you the: date time location of your first court date What is first appearance? This is not your trial date. This is when you go to court to find out about the case…

Criminal charge process

Last updated July 4, 2023

If you cannot afford a lawyer, call us to find out if you’re eligible for legal help. If you qualify for legal aid, we may either cover the cost of a lawyer to represent you or you can visit one of our lawyers at court (they’re called duty counsel) who can give you some advice…

Guilty pleas

Last updated July 18, 2023

You do not have to plead guilty. Remember: it is up to the Crown to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you have committed an offence. This means that either a judge or a jury is absolutely certain that you broke the law and also knew you were breaking the law. If the judge or…

When should an accused agree to enter into a peace bond?

Last updated March 2, 2023

The decision to enter into a peace bond or not depends on a lot of different things and is different in each case. Factors like the strength of the Crown’s case, personal circumstances, and risks of losing the case at trial are all things that might be considered. The decision is always the accused’s alone,…

Conditional discharge

Last updated January 13, 2023

A conditional discharge is similar to an absolute discharge because a finding of guilt is made, but no conviction is registered. What makes it different from an absolute discharge is that there are conditions that the offender must follow. The conditions always come in a probation order. If you receive a conditional discharge: On or…

Conditional sentence (“house arrest”)

Last updated March 2, 2023

A conditional sentence is an imprisonment (jail) sentence, except that the offender serves the sentence outside of jail, under strict, jail‑like conditions. Conditional sentences are sometimes called “house arrest,” because they often require an offender to spend all or part of the sentence in their house. Just like imprisonment, a conditional sentence will result in…

Intermittent sentence (“weekends”)

Last updated March 2, 2023

An intermittent sentence is a jail sentence that the offender serves in ”chunks” of time, instead of all at once. For example, if an offender gets an intermittent sentence, they may go jail on the weekends, (i.e., Friday night until Monday morning) but be out of jail during the week. This continues until the sentence is…

Imprisonment (jail)

Last updated March 2, 2023

Imprisonment is a jail sentence. After a judge gives a jail sentence, the offender is taken to jail and a conviction is registered against them. An offender has to apply for a pardon in order to have a jail sentence removed from their record. If an offender is sent to jail for less than two…


Showing 21 - 30 of 58 results