Transfer of Matters to Other Provinces or Territories
| This page was last substantively updated or reviewed August 2017. (Rev. # 95970) |
General Principles
The process of "waiving jurisdiction", permitting charges to be plead to and sentenced for the offence in a province other than the original jurisdiction.[1]
- Offence committed entirely in one province
478 (1) Subject to this Act, a court in a province shall not try an offence committed entirely in another province.
[omitted (2)]
- Idem
(3) An accused who is charged with an offence that is alleged to have been committed in Canada outside the province in which the accused is may, if the offence is not an offence mentioned in section 469 and
- (a) in the case of proceedings instituted at the instance of the Government of Canada and conducted by or on behalf of that Government, if the Attorney General of Canada consents, or
- (b) in any other case, if the Attorney General of the province where the offence is alleged to have been committed consents,
appear before a court or judge that would have had jurisdiction to try that offence if it had been committed in the province where the accused is, and where the accused consents to plead guilty and pleads guilty to that offence, the court or judge shall determine the accused to be guilty of the offence and impose the punishment warranted by law, but where the accused does not consent to plead guilty and does not plead guilty, the accused shall, if the accused was in custody prior to appearance, be returned to custody and shall be dealt with according to law.
[omitted (4) and (5)]
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 478; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), ss. 64, 101(E); 1994, c. 44, s. 33(E).
Where charges are transferred to a different jurisdiction pursuant to s. 478(3) for the purpose of entering guilty pleas, but "guilty pleas are not taken by the court of the transferee province, the charges should be transferred back to the originating province."[2]
- ↑ R v Graham, 2012 BCCA 376 (CanLII), per curiam, at para 3
- ↑ R v Gallagher, 2009 MBQB 160 (CanLII), 241 Man R (2d) 135, per Greenberg J, at para 25
Youth Court
- Transfer of charges
133 Despite subsections 478(1) [offence committed entirely in one province] and (3) [offence committed entirely in one province – ordered into custody] of the Criminal Code, a young person charged with an offence that is alleged to have been committed in one province may, if the Attorney General of the province consents, appear before a youth justice court of any other province and
- (a) if the young person pleads guilty to that offence and the youth justice court is satisfied that the facts support the charge, the court shall find the young person guilty of the offence alleged in the information or indictment; and
- (b) if the young person pleads not guilty to that offence, or pleads guilty but the court is not satisfied that the facts support the charge, the young person shall, if he or she was detained in custody prior to the appearance, be returned to custody and dealt with according to law.
Transfer of Matters to Other Territorial Divisions Within the Province
- Offence outstanding in same province
479. Where an accused is charged with an offence that is alleged to have been committed in the province in which he is, he may, if the offence is not an offence mentioned in section 469 and
- (a) in the case of proceedings instituted at the instance of the Government of Canada and conducted by or on behalf of that Government, the Attorney General of Canada consents, or
- (b) in any other case, the Attorney General of the province where the offence is alleged to have been committed consents,
appear before a court or judge that would have had jurisdiction to try that offence if it had been committed in the place where the accused is, and where the accused consents to plead guilty and pleads guilty to that offence, the court or judge shall determine the accused to be guilty of the offence and impose the punishment warranted by law, but where the accused does not consent to plead guilty and does not plead guilty, the accused shall, if the accused was in custody prior to appearance, be returned to custody and shall be dealt with according to law.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 479; R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 65; 1994, c. 44, s. 34(E).