Notice to the Profession and Parties – Protocol for Criminal Proceedings in the Central East Region

Effective June 1, 2022

This Notice to the Profession and Parties applies to proceedings in the Superior Court of Justice, Central East Region, commencing June 1, 2022.

This Notice supersedes all previous region-specific Practice Directions and Notices to the Profession for the Central East Region issued prior to this date, which are hereby revoked.

Counsel and parties are also advised to refer to the relevant Parts of the Court’s Consolidated Provincial Practice Directions.

PART 1 – PRESUMPTIVE MODE OF HEARING

For complete information on the Presumptive Mode of Hearing Guidelines for the Superior Court of Justice, please see:

Guidelines to Determine Mode of Proceeding in Criminal | Superior Court of Justice

The chart below lists the presumptive modes of hearing for criminal matters in the Central East region.

 

In Person Virtual In Writing
Criminal Jury trial x  
  Non-jury trial x  
  Pre-trial motions x  
  Guilty Pleas x  
  Sentencing Hearing x  
  Assignment Court /TBST/First Appearance x  
  Summary Conviction Appeal x  
  Judicial Pre-trials x  
  Bail Hearings x  
  Bail/Detention Reviews x  
  1. Change to Presumptive Mode of Hearing

All events scheduled, on or after June 1, 2022, will proceed in the presumptive mode of hearing set out above unless a judge, prior to the hearing, has directed otherwise.

Criminal Events:

Any party seeking to change the presumptive mode of hearing for an event must raise this request no less than 60 days before the event with the presiding judge or their designate.  The accused must be present in person or via video link for this request.

A written request must be sent to the Trial Coordinator’s Office, which will schedule a virtual or in person attendance before a judge.

Failure to raise this at the first available opportunity will result in the event proceeding in the presumptive mode of hearing. The request will not be considered on the scheduled hearing date.

PART 2 – FILING COURT DOCUMENTS

Filings in Criminal Matters

All filings for Criminal matters must be emailed to the address(es) located in the Region’s Notice and follow the protocol set out in the Region’s Notice.  Also, for further direction, please refer to section IX, X, and XI in the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction in Criminal Proceedings.

Court filed documents in criminal, proceedings must comply with the court filing requirements in:

  • 4.01 of the Criminal Proceedings Rules;

Court documents which do not comply with these document standards, including the maximum length for such documents will NOT be accepted for filing (and therefore cannot be uploaded to Case Center).

PLEASE ENSURE STRICT COMPLIANCE WITH TIMELINES and COURT FILING DOCUMENT STANDARDS.

All filings for Criminal matters are to be filed through the following email addresses:

Barrie – Barrie.SCJ.courts@ontario.ca

Bracebridge – Bracebridge.courts@ontario.ca

Cobourg – Cobourg.court@ontario.ca

Lindsay – Lindsay.courts@ontario.ca

Newmarket – yorkcrimSCJ@ontario.ca

Oshawa – Durham.SCJ.Courts@ontario.ca

Peterborough – Peterborough.scj.courts@ontario.ca

 

PART 3 – UPLOADING OF DOCUMENTS (Case Center)

  1. Generally

In the event new counsel takes over a matter from counsel of record, it is the responsibility of the new counsel to contact the former counsel of record to obtain the invitation to Case Center or in the alternative, obtain the invitation from the Trial Coordinator.  Counsel may invite their legal assistant to upload the event materials.

How? You can do so by locating the case (found on your View Case List screen) and selecting Update Case. Next, click on the People tab found in the case file and then on Invite New Participant. Enter the participant’s email address and select the bundles you would like to provide them access to (i.e. the event and Orders and Endorsements bundles). Once you click Invite, an automated Case Center email will be sent to the person containing a link to the case.

Failure to comply with the above may result in the event not proceeding as scheduled and, where appropriate, judicial sanctions and/or terms may be imposed.

Only court documents which have been accepted for filing are to be uploaded.   Should any party upload documents which have not been filed, the party must bring this to the attention of the presiding judge.

  1. Criminal Matters

For full details on uploading materials to Case Center (including links to helpful tips) and further particular requirements/restrictions on uploading materials to Case Center for criminal matters see the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction in Criminal Proceedings.

Upon service and filing of documents, counsel must immediately upload the filed documents to Case Center. If necessary, counsel should contact the Court Office to obtain a Case Center invite for the event. Uploading to Case Center after 4:00pm the business day before or the morning of the beginning of the hearing must be avoided. Counsel can assume all materials filed on Case Center by 4:00pm of the business day prior to a scheduled hearing will have been read by the presiding Justice.

In summary, Case Center shall be used for all criminal events except for the following events:

    • Trial Readiness Court;
    • Assignment Court;
    • Bail Estreatments; and,
    • TBST matters.

  1. Release of Orders and Endorsements

Where an event was heard using Case Center, court staff may release orders and endorsements to the parties by uploading them to Case Center instead of sending them by e-mail, subject to any direction from the presiding judicial official.

When orders and endorsements are released and updated to Case Center, the parties will receive notification that Case Center has been updated.  Parties can then obtain these documents by accessing the Orders and Endorsements sub-bundle in Case Center.  In some cases, where the court has reserved, the presiding judge may also send a copy of the reasons or endorsement to the parties via email.

 

PART 4- CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

Parties must comply with the current practice direction in the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction in Criminal Proceedings. 

 

Dated:  June 1, 2022

Mark L. Edwards

Regional Senior Justice

Superior Court of Justice

Central East Region