Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)

Marginal note:Contents of undertaking

• 501 (1) An undertaking under paragraph 498(1)(c), 499(b) or 503(1.1)(b) must set out

  • (a) the name, date of birth and contact information of the accused;

  • (b) the substance of the offence that the accused is alleged to have committed; and

  • (c) a summary of subsections 145(4) and (6), sections 512 and 512.2 and subsection 524(4).

• Marginal note:Mandatory conditions

  (2) The undertaking must contain a condition that the accused attend court at the time and place stated in the undertaking and to attend afterwards as required by the court.

• Marginal note:Additional conditions

  (3) The undertaking may contain one or more of the following conditions, if the condition is reasonable in the circumstances of the offence and necessary, to ensure the accused’s attendance in court or the safety and security of any victim of or witness to the offence, or to prevent the continuation or repetition of the offence or the commission of another offence:

  • (a) report at specified times to the peace officer or other specified person;

  • (b) remain within a specified territorial jurisdiction;

  • (c) notify the peace officer or other specified person of any change in their address, employment or occupation;

  • (d) abstain from communicating, directly or indirectly, with any victim, witness or other person identified in the undertaking, except in accordance with any specified conditions;

  • (e) abstain from going to any specified place or entering any geographic area related to any person referred to in paragraph (d), except in accordance with any specified conditions;

  • (f) deposit all their passports with the peace officer or other specified person;

  • (g) reside at a specified address, be at that address at specified hours and present themselves at the entrance of that residence to a peace officer or other specified person, at the officer’s or specified person’s request during those hours;

  • (h) abstain from possessing a firearm, cross-bow, prohibited weapon, restricted weapon, prohibited device, ammunition, prohibited ammunition or explosive substance, and surrender those that are in their possession to the peace officer or other specified person and also any authorization, licence or registration certificate or other document enabling them to acquire or possess them;

  • (i) promise to pay an amount specified in the undertaking, which shall not be more than $500, if they fail to comply with any condition of the undertaking;

  • (j) deposit, with the peace officer specified in the undertaking, money or other valuable security whose value does not exceed $500 if, at the time of giving the undertaking, the accused is not ordinarily resident in the province or does not ordinarily reside within 200 kilometres of the place in which they are in custody; and

  • (k) comply with any other specified condition for ensuring the safety and security of any victim of or witness to the offence.

• Marginal note:Attendance for purposes of Identification of Criminals Act

  (4) The undertaking may require the accused to appear at the time and place stated in it for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act, if the accused is alleged to have committed an offence referred to in paragraph 2(1)(c) of that Act.

• Marginal note:Money or other valuable security to be deposited with justice

  (5) If the accused has deposited an amount of money or other valuable security with a peace officer, the officer shall, without delay after the deposit, cause the money or valuable security to be delivered to a justice for deposit with the justice.

• Marginal note:Signature of accused

  (6) The accused shall be requested to sign in duplicate their undertaking and, whether or not they comply with that request, one of the duplicates shall be given to them. If they fail or refuse to sign, the lack of their signature does not invalidate the undertaking.

Marginal note:Variation of undertaking on consent

• 502 (1) The undertaking in respect of which an accused has been released under section 498, 499 or 503 may, with the written consent of the accused and the prosecutor, be varied and the undertaking so varied is deemed to be an undertaking given under section 498, 499 or 503, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Replacement by justice of undertaking with order

  (2) The accused or the prosecutor may, in the absence of consent between them, apply to a justice for a release order under subsection 515(1) or (2) to replace an undertaking given by the accused under paragraph 498(1)(c), 499(b) or 503(1.1)(b) with the order. If the prosecutor applies for the order, the prosecutor must provide three days notice to the accused.

Appearance of Accused before Justice

Marginal note:Appearance of the accused

• 502.1 (1) Except as otherwise provided in this Part, an accused who is required to appear in a proceeding under this Part shall appear in person but may appear by audioconference or videoconference, if arrangements are made with the court in advance and those arrangements are satisfactory to the justice.

• Marginal note:Witness in Canada

  (2) Despite section 714.1, a witness in Canada who is required to give evidence in a proceeding under this Part may do so by audioconference or videoconference, if it is satisfactory to the justice.

• Marginal note:Witness outside Canada

  (3) For greater certainty, sections 714.2 to 714.8 apply when a witness outside Canada gives evidence in a proceeding under this Part.

• Marginal note:Participants

  (4) A participant, as defined in subsection 715.25(1), who is to participate in a proceeding under this Part shall participate in person but may participate by audioconference or videoconference, if it is satisfactory to the justice.

• Marginal note:Justice

  (5) The justice who is to preside at a proceeding under this Part shall preside in person but may preside by audioconference or videoconference, if the justice considers it necessary in the circumstances.

Marginal note:Taking before justice

• 503 (1) Subject to the other provisions of this section, a peace officer who arrests a person with or without warrant and who has not released the person under any other provision under this Part shall, in accordance with the following paragraphs, cause the person to be taken before a justice to be dealt with according to law:

  • (a) if a justice is available within a period of 24 hours after the person has been arrested by the peace officer, the person shall be taken before a justice without unreasonable delay and in any event within that period; and

  • (b) if a justice is not available within a period of 24 hours after the person has been arrested by the peace officer, the person shall be taken before a justice as soon as possible.

• Marginal note:Re-evaluation of detention

  (1.1) At any time before the expiry of the time referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (b), a peace officer who is satisfied that the continued detention of the person in custody for an offence that is not listed in section 469 is no longer necessary shall release the person, if

  • (a) the peace officer issues an appearance notice to the person; or

  • (b) the person gives an undertaking to the peace officer.

• Marginal note:Person delivered or in custody

  (2) Subsections (1) and (1.1) also apply to a peace officer to whom a person is delivered under subsection 494(3) or into whose custody a person is placed under subsection 163.5(3) of the Customs Act, except that the 24-hour period referred to in paragraphs (1)(a) and (b) begins after the person is delivered to the officer.

• (2.1) [Repealed, 2019, c. 25, s. 217]

• (2.2) [Repealed, 2019, c. 25, s. 217]

• (2.3) [Repealed, 2019, c. 25, s. 217]

• Marginal note:Remand in custody for return to jurisdiction where offence alleged to have been committed

  (3) Where a person has been arrested without warrant for an indictable offence alleged to have been committed in Canada outside the territorial division where the arrest took place, the person shall, within the time prescribed in paragraph (1)(a) or (b), be taken before a justice within whose jurisdiction the person was arrested unless, where the offence was alleged to have been committed within the province in which the person was arrested, the person was taken before a justice within whose jurisdiction the offence was alleged to have been committed, and the justice within whose jurisdiction the person was arrested

  • (a) if the justice is not satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person arrested is the person alleged to have committed the offence, shall release that person; or

  • (b) if the justice is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person arrested is the person alleged to have committed the offence, may

    • (i) remand the person to the custody of a peace officer to await execution of a warrant for his or her arrest in accordance with section 528, but if no warrant is so executed within a period of six days after the time he or she is remanded to such custody, the person in whose custody he or she then is shall release him or her, or

    • (ii) where the offence was alleged to have been committed within the province in which the person was arrested, order the person to be taken before a justice having jurisdiction with respect to the offence.

• Marginal note:Interim release

  (3.1) Notwithstanding paragraph (3)(b), a justice may, with the consent of the prosecutor, order that the person referred to in subsection (3), pending the execution of a warrant for the arrest of that person, be released

  • (a) without conditions; or

  • (b) on the terms of a release order containing any conditions referred to in paragraphs 515(2)(a) to (e) that the justice considers desirable and to which the prosecutor consents.

• Marginal note:Release of person about to commit indictable offence

  (4) A peace officer having the custody of a person who has been arrested without warrant as a person about to commit an indictable offence shall release that person as soon as practicable after the officer is satisfied that the continued detention of that person is no longer necessary in order to prevent that person from committing an indictable offence.

• Marginal note:Consequences of non-release

  (5) Despite subsection (4), a peace officer having the custody of a person referred to in that subsection who does not release the person before the expiry of the time prescribed in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) for taking the person before the justice shall be deemed to be acting lawfully and in the execution of the peace officer’s duty for the purposes of

  • (a) any proceedings under this or any other Act of Parliament; or

  • (b) any other proceedings, unless in those proceedings it is alleged and established by the person making the allegation that the peace officer did not comply with the requirements of subsection (4).

Information, Summons and Warrant

Marginal note:In what cases justice may receive information

504 Any one who, on reasonable grounds, believes that a person has committed an indictable offence may lay an information in writing and under oath before a justice, and the justice shall receive the information, where it is alleged

• (a) that the person has committed, anywhere, an indictable offence that may be tried in the province in which the justice resides, and that the person

  • (i) is or is believed to be, or

  • (ii) resides or is believed to reside,

  within the territorial jurisdiction of the justice;

• (b) that the person, wherever he may be, has committed an indictable offence within the territorial jurisdiction of the justice;

• (c) that the person has, anywhere, unlawfully received property that was unlawfully obtained within the territorial jurisdiction of the justice; or

• (d) that the person has in his possession stolen property within the territorial jurisdiction of the justice.

Marginal note:Time within which information to be laid in certain cases

505 If an appearance notice has been issued to an accused under section 497, or if an accused has been released from custody under section 498 or 503, an information relating to the offence alleged to have been committed by the accused or relating to an included or other offence alleged to have been committed by them shall be laid before a justice as soon as practicable after the issuance or release, and in any event before the time stated in the appearance notice or undertaking for their attendance in court.

Marginal note:Form

506 An information laid under section 504 or 505 may be in Form 2.

Marginal note:Justice to hear informant and witnesses — public prosecutions

• 507 (1) Subject to subsection 523(1.1), a justice who receives an information laid under section 504 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.

• Marginal note:Process compulsory

  (2) No justice shall refuse to issue a summons or warrant by reason only that the alleged offence is one for which a person may be arrested without warrant.

• Marginal note:Procedure when witnesses attend

  (3) A justice who hears the evidence of a witness pursuant to subsection (1) shall

  • (a) take the evidence on oath; and

  • (b) cause the evidence to be taken in accordance with section 540 in so far as that section is capable of being applied.

• Marginal note:Summons to be issued except in certain cases

  (4) Where a justice considers that a case is made out for compelling an accused to attend before him to answer to a charge of an offence, he shall issue a summons to the accused unless the allegations of the informant or the evidence of any witness or witnesses taken in accordance with subsection (3) discloses reasonable grounds to believe that it is necessary in the public interest to issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused.

• Marginal note:No process in blank

  (5) A justice shall not sign a summons or warrant in blank.

• Marginal note:Endorsement of warrant by justice

  (6) A justice who issues a warrant under this section or section 508, 512, 512.1 or 512.2 may, unless the offence is one listed in section 469, authorize the release of the accused under section 499 by making an endorsement on the warrant in Form 29.

• Marginal note:Undertaking or appearance notice deemed confirmed

  (7) If, under subsection (6), a justice authorizes the release of an accused under section 499, an appearance notice or undertaking referred to in that section shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection 145(3) or (4), as the case may be, to have been confirmed by a justice under section 508.

• Marginal note:Issue of summons or warrant

  (8) Where, on an appeal from or review of any decision or matter of jurisdiction, a new trial or hearing or a continuance or renewal of a trial or hearing is ordered, a justice may issue either a summons or a warrant for the arrest of the accused in order to compel the accused to attend at the new or continued or renewed trial or hearing.