Peace bond Lawyers in Canada

Under section 810(1), an information may be laid before a justice by or on behalf of any person who fears on reasonable grounds that another person will cause personal injury to them or to their intimate partner or child, or will damage their property. The section is about a fear of future harm.

Under section 810(2), a justice who receives the information shall cause the parties to appear before the justice or before a summary conviction court having jurisdiction in the same territorial division.

Under section 810(3), if the justice or court is satisfied by the evidence adduced that the person on whose behalf the information was laid has reasonable grounds for the fear, the justice or court may order that the defendant enter into a recognizance, with or without sureties, to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for a period of not more than 12 months. The section may commit the defendant to prison for a term of not more than 12 months if the defendant fails or refuses to enter into the recognizance.

The question the section asks is whether the person on whose behalf the information was laid has reasonable grounds for the fear. The court answers it on the evidence adduced at the appearance. The section does not ask the court to decide that the defendant committed an offence.

Whether the fear is reasonable, and what evidence supports it, are matters for the hearing. A lawyer can explain how the section applies to a particular application.

Section 810 lets the justice or court add any reasonable conditions to the recognizance that it considers desirable to secure the good conduct of the defendant. The examples in the section include conditions that require the defendant to abstain from the consumption of drugs, except in accordance with a medical prescription, of alcohol or of any other intoxicating substance.

Before making the order, the justice or court shall consider whether it is desirable, in the interests of the safety of the defendant or of any other person, to include a condition prohibiting the defendant from possessing any firearm or other weapon the section lists. If it decides that it is desirable, it shall add the condition. If it decides otherwise, it shall record its reasons.

The justice or court shall also consider two further conditions for the safety of the informant, the person on whose behalf the information was laid, or that person's intimate partner or child. One prohibits the defendant from being at, or within a specified distance of, a place where that person is regularly found. The other prohibits the defendant from communicating with that person, in whole or in part, directly or indirectly.

The justice or court may, on application of the informant or the defendant, vary the conditions fixed in the recognizance.

Section 811 deals with breach. A person bound by a recognizance under section 810 or the related sections who commits a breach is guilty of an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than four years, or of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

On summary conviction, section 787(1) applies unless the law provides otherwise. It sets a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment of not more than two years less a day, or both. The sections read for this page set no minimum term for breach.

A maximum is a limit set by law. It does not say what sentence a court would give in any case.

The Criminal Code has related recognizances for other fears. Section 810.01 deals with a person who fears on reasonable grounds that another person will commit a criminal organization offence or an offence of intimidation. It needs the Attorney General's consent, and an information is laid before a provincial court judge. Section 810.011 deals with a fear that another person may commit a terrorism offence, and it also needs the Attorney General's consent. Section 810.1 deals with a fear that another person will commit certain listed offences against persons under the age of 18.

In each, the judge must be satisfied by the evidence adduced that the informant has reasonable grounds for the fear before ordering a recognizance. Each section sets its own time limits and conditions, and a lawyer can explain which one is relied on.

A peace bond application is brought by information before a justice or a summary conviction court, as section 810(2) says. A charge of breach is a charge under the Criminal Code. In Ontario, every charge under the Criminal Code starts in the Ontario Court of Justice, and about 95% of charges are completed there.

A person charged with an offence has Charter rights. Section 10(b) gives everyone, on arrest or detention, the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right. Section 11(d) gives a person charged the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal. Section 24(2) says evidence obtained in a manner that infringed Charter rights shall be excluded if admitting it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

After a conviction on indictment for breach, an appeal goes to the court of appeal. A person may appeal as of right on any ground that involves a question of law alone, under section 675. After a summary conviction, the defendant may appeal under section 813. In Ontario, that appeal goes to the Superior Court of Justice sitting in the region, district or county or group of counties where the adjudication was made, under section 812.

Legal Aid Ontario may pay for a lawyer if the person qualifies and is charged with a crime that could mean jail on conviction, or is 12 to 17 and charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Duty counsel is a lawyer at the courthouse for that day. Duty counsel can advise on rights, ask to delay a court date, act at a bail hearing, help with a guilty plea, speak at sentencing, and meet the Crown, for people who qualify and have no lawyer.

A legal aid certificate pays a roster lawyer, one approved to take legal aid clients, for the length of the criminal case. Applications are online or by phone at 1-800-668-8258.

The Law Society of Ontario keeps a public Lawyer and Paralegal Directory, where a lawyer's licence can be looked up. The Ontario lawyers on this site are listed by city. Nothing on this page ranks or recommends any of them.