Announcements

New Practice Direction governing the mode of appearance for criminal proceedings coming into effect March 31, 2025

March 20, 2025

The Court has issued a new Practice Direction governing the mode of appearance for criminal proceedings in the Ontario Court of Justice, which will come into effect March 31, 2025. The practice direction identifies the mode(s) of appearance for OCJ criminal proceedings, subject to a judicial officer directing otherwise. It also sets out how persons may request an order allowing a virtual appearance and sets out the requirements for virtual appearances. For more information, please see Practice Direction:  Mode of Appearance for Ontario Court of Justice Criminal Proceedings.

Re: Practice Direction: Jordan-Compliant Trial Scheduling

March 17, 2025

Effective March 17, 2025, the Court will be implementing the updated Practice Direction: Jordan-Compliant Trial Scheduling. Previous versions of the practice direction are available on the Archives section of the Ontario Court of Justice website. 

Re: Judicial Criminal Pre-trial Best Practices

March 17, 2025

Effective March 17, 2025, the Court will be implementing the updated Judicial Criminal Pre-trial Best Practices. Previous versions of the practice direction are available on the Archives section of the Ontario Court of Justice website. 

Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol Expanding to Kenora, Dryden and Sioux Lookout

February 24, 2025

Effective February 24, 2025, the Court’s Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol will be expanding to bail appearances in the Kenora, Dryden and Sioux Lookout courthouses from the Kenora District Jail.  The protocol enhances access to fair and timely bail proceedings by reducing the number of administrative appearances in bail court.  For more information, please see Practice Direction:  Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol.

Expansion of the 12-Week Adjournment from First Appearance in Criminal Case Management Court for Counsel Matters on June 3, 2024

May 27, 2024

The 12-Week Adjournment from First Appearance in Criminal Case Management Court for Counsel Matters will be expanding to various locations in the Central East, Central West, East, Toronto and West Regions as of June 3, 2024.  This practice direction, which was first implemented in Toronto and Brampton on November 1, 2023, reduces unnecessary administrative appearances in case management courts by establishing a standard 12-week adjournment for matters in which counsel is retained at an accused person’s first or second appearance in case management court.

Practice Direction: Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol

March 4, 2024

Effective March 11, 2024, the Court is implementing a pilot project in the Northeast region to enhance access to fair and timely bail proceedings by reducing the number of administrative appearances in bail court.  For more information, please see Practice Direction:  Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol

New Practice Directions to Reduce Delay in Criminal Proceedings

October 24, 2023

Effective November 1, 2023, the Ontario Court of Justice is implementing three new practice directions aimed at reducing delay and unnecessary administrative appearances in criminal proceedings.

Jordan-Compliant Trial Scheduling

This practice direction commits the Court to offering a criminal trial date that complies with the obligations set out in R. v. Jordan to ensure an accused person’s constitutional right to a trial within a reasonable time is respected. The Court will offer the parties a trial date that is expected to result in the case being completed within 15 months of the Information sworn date. To facilitate this, parties will be expected to have completed all intake (case management) steps and be ready to resolve the case or schedule a trial or preliminary inquiry within six months of the Information sworn date. These procedures apply, with some modifications, to criminal cases that are already in the system as of November 1, 2023.

Read more

Section 11(b) Charter Applications

This new practice direction is intended to provide for fair, timely and efficient determination of s. 11(b) Charter applications.This includes hearing the application at least four months before trial so that, if the application is granted and a stay of proceedings is imposed, the scheduled trial dates may be utilized for other matters. To facilitate scheduling, the defence is required to advise, at the time a trial date is set, whether it intends to bring a s. 11(b) application; if a trial is scheduled more than 18 months from the Information sworn date, a s. 11(b) application will be scheduled unless the defence confirms on the record they are not bringing it.

Rule s. 2.4(3) of the Criminal Rules of the Ontario Court of Justice has been amended to reflect the authority of a case management judge to determine s. 11(b) applications.

Read more

12-Week Adjournment from First Appearance in Criminal Case Management Court for Counsel Matters (Toronto and Brampton only)

This practice direction, which will be implemented in Toronto and Brampton, establishes a standard 12-week adjournment for matters in which counsel is retained at an accused person’s first or second appearance in case management court.By the end of this adjournment period, the Crown and defence counsel should have completed the intake (case management) steps and be ready to resolve the case or set a trial or preliminary inquiry date. Reducing administrative appearances for counsel matters will shorten case management court dockets and permit the Court to spend more time addressing those matters which require more active case management.

Paragraph 47 of the Enhanced Designations of Counsel Practice Direction has been amended to clarify that the Enhanced Designation may be filed prior to an accused person’s first or second appearance in case management court.

Read more