Criminal Judicial Pre-Trial Conference, Toronto Region

Notice to the Profession - Toronto

Effective February 1, 2007, criminal judicial pre-trial conferences in the Toronto Region, other than cases on the criminal long trial list, will be no longer be scheduled only in the morning prior to court. Instead, the judicial pre-trials will be scheduled for one hour, and will proceed throughout the day.

The changes implement the May, 2006 recommendations of the Chief Justice’s Advisory Committee on Criminal Trials in the Superior Court of Justice chaired by Justices Watt and Durno. The committee’s report emphasizes the urgent need to better manage criminal trials in the Superior Court, in order to achieve shorter, more efficient, and focused criminal trials, without compromising trial fairness. The committee’s emphasis is not new—it is a forceful reiteration of similar views expressed in the 1993 Attorney General’s Advisory Committee report chaired by the Honourable G. Arthur Martin, and in the 1999 Criminal Justice Review Report, chaired by the Honourable Hugh Locke.

The recommendations in the Advisory Committee’s report have led to amendments to the Criminal Proceedings Rules, effective October 16, 2006.

Counsel should familiarize themselves with the Committee’s report, the amended Criminal Proceedings Rules (HTML, PDF), and Form 17 (Word, PDF), the new pre-trial conference report form, and other documents that may be relevant in the circumstances of a particular case.

In an effort to make it easier to comply with Rules 28.04 (7) & (8)¹, the Crown will fax a completed pre-trial conference report in Form 17 to the defence at least 10 days before the scheduled date of the judicial pre-trial conference. Defence counsel are encouraged (but not required) to add their comments to the form sent by the Crown, so that one form will be completed for consideration by the pre-trial judge. The Rule requires that defence file the form with the court at least 5 days before the judicial pre-trial conference. This will allow the Judge an opportunity to read the material and be prepared for the conference.

Osgoode Hall
February 1, 2007
The Honourable W. K. Winkler
Regional Senior Justice Toronto Region

1 Rules 28.04 (7) & (8) provide:

(7) Unless otherwise ordered by a judge of the court or where the accused will be pleading guilty, the prosecutor must serve counsel of record for each accused, or where the accused is self-represented, the accused, not later than ten (10) days before the date scheduled for the pre-trial conference. [Effective October 16, 2006]

(8) Unless otherwise ordered by a judge of the court or where the accused will be pleading guilty, counsel of record for each accused, or the accused if self-represented shall serve the prosecutor, counsel for each co-accused and any other self-represented accused not later than five (5) days before the date scheduled for the pre-trial conference, even if the prosecutor has failed to serve and file Form 17, or otherwise failed to comply with this Rule. [Effective October 16, 2006]