Arrest Warrant for Breach of Court Orders (Until December 18, 2019)
| This page was last substantively updated or reviewed January 2020. (Rev. # 83955) |
General Principles
Warrant for Breach of Summons, Appearance Notice, Undertaking or Recognizance
- Issue of warrant for arrest of accused
524 (1) Where a justice is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that an accused
- (a) has contravened or is about to contravene any summons, appearance notice, promise to appear, undertaking or recognizance that was issued or given to him or entered into by him, or
- (b) has committed an indictable offence after any summons, appearance notice, promise to appear, undertaking or recognizance was issued or given to him or entered into by him,
he may issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused.
[omitted (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10)]
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 524; 1999, c. 3, s. 33.
Warrantless Arrest
524
[omitted (1)]
- Arrest of accused without warrant
(2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, a peace officer who believes on reasonable grounds that an accused
- (a) has contravened or is about to contravene any summons, appearance notice, promise to appear, undertaking or recognizance that was issued or given to him or entered into by him, or
- (b) has committed an indictable offence after any summons, appearance notice, promise to appear, undertaking or recognizance was issued or given to him or entered into by him,
may arrest the accused without warrant.
- Hearing
(3) Where an accused who has been arrested with a warrant issued under subsection (1), or who has been arrested under subsection (2), is taken before a justice, the justice shall
- (a) where the accused was released from custody pursuant to an order made under subsection 522(3) [release of accused on s. 469 offences] by a judge of the superior court of criminal jurisdiction of any province, order that the accused be taken before a judge of that court; or
- (b) in any other case, hear the prosecutor and his witnesses, if any, and the accused and his witnesses, if any.
[omitted (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9) and (10)]
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 524; 1999, c. 3, s. 33.
Warrant of Arrest for Failure to Attend
Where the accused is released on bail, and he fails to attend the judge may order a warrant under s.512(2) or 597.
Section 512(2) states:
- Certain actions not to preclude issue of warrant
512 (1) A justice may, where the justice has reasonable and probable grounds to believe that it is necessary in the public interest to issue a summons or a warrant for the arrest of the accused, issue a summons or warrant, notwithstanding that
- (a) an appearance notice or a promise to appear or a recognizance entered into before an officer in charge or another peace officer has been confirmed or cancelled under subsection 508(1) [justice obligation on receiving an information];
- (b) a summons has previously been issued under subsection 507(4) [summons to be issued except in certain cases]; or
- (c) the accused has been released unconditionally or with the intention of compelling his appearance by way of summons.
- Warrant in default of appearance
(2) Where
- (a) service of a summons is proved and the accused fails to attend court in accordance with the summons,
- (b) an appearance notice or a promise to appear or a recognizance entered into before an officer in charge or another peace officer has been confirmed under subsection 508(1) [justice obligation on receiving an information] and the accused fails to attend court in accordance therewith in order to be dealt with according to law, or
- (c) it appears that a summons cannot be served because the accused is evading service,
a justice may issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 512; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 82; 1997, c. 18, s. 58.
- Bench warrant
597 (1) Where an indictment has been preferred against a person who is at large, and that person does not appear or remain in attendance for his trial, the court before which the accused should have appeared or remained in attendance may issue a warrant in Form 7 for his arrest.
- Execution
(2) A warrant issued under subsection (1) may be executed anywhere in Canada.
- Interim release
(3) Where an accused is arrested under a warrant issued under subsection (1), a judge of the court that issued the warrant may order that the accused be released on his giving an undertaking that he will do any one or more of the following things as specified in the order, namely,
- (a) report at times to be stated in the order to a peace officer or other person designated in the order;
- (b) remain within a territorial jurisdiction specified in the order;
- (c) notify the peace officer or other person designated under paragraph (a) of any change in his address or his employment or occupation;
- (d) abstain from communicating with any witness or other person expressly named in the order except in accordance with such conditions specified in the order as the judge deems necessary;
- (e) where the accused is the holder of a passport, deposit his passport as specified in the order; and
- (f) comply with such other reasonable conditions specified in the order as the judge considers desirable.
- Discretion to postpone execution
(4) A judge who issues a warrant may specify in the warrant the period before which the warrant shall not be executed, to allow the accused to appear voluntarily before a judge having jurisdiction in the territorial division in which the warrant was issued.
- Deemed execution of warrant
(5) Where the accused appears voluntarily for the offence in respect of which the accused is charged, the warrant is deemed to be executed.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 597; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 121; 1997, c. 18, s. 68.
Warrant for Breaching the Identification of Criminals Act
- Failure to appear
502 Where an accused who is required by an appearance notice or promise to appear or by a recognizance entered into before an officer in charge or another peace officer to appear at a time and place stated therein for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act does not appear at that time and place, a justice may, where the appearance notice, promise to appear or recognizance has been confirmed by a justice under section 508, issue a warrant for the arrest of the accused for the offence with which the accused is charged.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 502; 1992, c. 47, s. 70; 1996, c. 7, s. 38; 1997, c. 18, s. 54.