Archives
The directives on this page have been superseded or replaced by subsequent directives published on the Ontario Court of Justice public website. They are included here for reference only.
- GENERAL
- CRIMINAL
- FAMILY
- PROVINCIAL OFFENCES
GENERAL
Changes to the Criminal Rules effective March 31, 2025
March 31, 2025
The Court has amended its Criminal Rules to clarify various provisions addressing Applications. In addition, a new rule (Rule 1.4) addressing virtual (remote) appearances has been added. Under Rule 1.4, the Court has issued a new Practice Direction: Mode of Appearance for Ontario Court of Justice Criminal Proceedings. These changes come into effect March 31, 2025. For more information, see Criminal Rules of the Ontario Court of Justice.
New Practice Direction governing the mode of appearance for criminal proceedings coming into effect March 31, 2025
March 20, 2025
The Court has issued a new Practice Direction governing the mode of appearance for criminal proceedings in the Ontario Court of Justice, which will come into effect March 31, 2025. For more information, please see Practice Direction: Mode of Appearance for Ontario Court of Justice Criminal Proceedings.
Re: Practice Direction: Jordan-Compliant Trial Scheduling
March 17, 2025
Effective March 17, 2025, the Court will be implementing the updated Practice Direction: Jordan-Compliant Trial Scheduling. Previous versions of the practice direction are available on the Archives section of the Ontario Court of Justice website.
Re: Judicial Criminal Pre-trial Best Practices
March 17, 2025
Effective March 17, 2025, the Court will be implementing the updated Judicial Criminal Pre-trial Best Practices. Previous versions of the practice direction are available on the Archives section of the Ontario Court of Justice website.
Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol Expanding to Kenora, Dryden and Sioux Lookout
February 24, 2025
Effective February 24, 2025, the Court’s Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol will be expanding to bail appearances in the Kenora, Dryden and Sioux Lookout courthouses from the Kenora District Jail. The protocol enhances access to fair and timely bail proceedings by reducing the number of administrative appearances in bail court. For more information, please see Practice Direction: Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol.
Opening of the Courts of Ontario Ceremony 2024
September 3, 2024
The Opening of the Courts of Ontario Ceremony for 2024 will be held on Monday, September 23, 2024 in Courtroom No. 6-1 at Toronto Court House, 361 University Avenue in the City of Toronto at 3:30pm. Remarks will be delivered by Chief Justice Michael Tulloch, Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz, and Chief Justice Sharon Nicklas. The ceremony can be watched live at https://www.youtube.com/live/XAjq1fQrTEc.
Public Statement by Ontario’s three Chief Justices regarding the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (September 30th) and how it will continue to be honoured
August 16, 2024
Monday, September 30th, 2024 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
Expansion of the 12-Week Adjournment from First Appearance in Criminal Case Management Court for Counsel Matters on June 3, 2024
May 27, 2024
The 12-Week Adjournment from First Appearance in Criminal Case Management Court for Counsel Matters will be expanding to various locations in the Central East, Central West, East, Toronto and West Regions as of June 3, 2024. This practice direction, which was first implemented in Toronto and Brampton on November 1, 2023, reduces unnecessary administrative appearances in case management courts by establishing a standard 12-week adjournment for matters in which counsel is retained at an accused person’s first or second appearance in case management court.
Notice to the Profession and Public
April 10, 2024
Pronouns for Lawyers and Parties
Practice Direction: Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol
March 4, 2024
Effective March 11, 2024, the Court is implementing a pilot project in the Northeast region to enhance access to fair and timely bail proceedings by reducing the number of administrative appearances in bail court. For more information, please see Practice Direction: Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol.
Appointment of new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective January 30, 2025
January 20, 2025
New Judges Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new Regional Senior Justices of the Peace to the Ontario Court of Justice
January 20, 2025
New Regional Senior Justices of the Peace Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective December 26, 2024
December 16, 2024
New Judges Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective December 5, 2024
November 25, 2024
New Judges Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective October 24, 2024
October 15, 2024
New Judges Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new judge to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective September 26, 2024
September 17, 2024
New Judge Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective September 12, 2024
September 4, 2024
New Judges Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new Regional Senior Justice to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective August 15, 2024
August 15, 2024
New Regional Senior Justice Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective June 13, 2024
June 4, 2024
New Judges Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
Appointment of new Regional Senior Justice to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective June 1, 2024
May 14, 2024
New Regional Senior Justice Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice
CRIMINAL
- Practice Direction: Bail Court Waiver of Appearance and Bring Forward Protocol – updated March 11, 2024
- COVID-19 – Ontario Court of Justice Protocol Re Bail Hearings – Revised April 4, 2022
- COVID-19 – Ontario Court of Justice Protocol Re Bail Hearings – Revised April 22, 2021
- COVID-19 – Ontario Court of Justice Protocol Re Bail Hearings – May 11, 2020
- Practice Direction – 12-Week Adjournment from First Appearance in Criminal Case Management Court for Counsel Matters – June 3, 2024
- Practice Direction – Enhanced Designations of Counsel – updated Nov 1, 2023
- Practice Direction – 12-Week Adjournment from First Appearance in Criminal Case Management Court for Counsel Matters – updated Nov 1, 2023
- Practice Direction – Enhanced Designations of Counsel – updated May 8, 2023
- Practice Direction Authorizing Alternate Form of Appearance where Enhanced Designation Filed – updated Jan 23, 2023
- Practice Direction Authorizing Alternate Form of Appearance where Enhanced Designation Filed – updated Apr 11, 2022
- Scheduling and Conducting of Virtual Criminal Case Management Appearances updated Nov 29, 2021
- Out of Court Adjournment of Matters where an Enhanced Designation of Counsel has been Filed – Pilot Projects – updated Oct 15, 2021
- Judge-led Intensive Case Management Courts – Sept 3, 2021
- COVID-19 Practice Direction Authorizing Alternate Form of Appearance where Enhanced Designation Filed – updated July 5, 2021
- Out of Court Adjournment of Matters where an Enhanced Designation of Counsel has been Filed – Pilot Project in Ottawa -Jan 28, 2021
- Criminal Case Adjournment Dates – Out-of-Custody Accused – March 16, 2020 to November 27, 2020 – Updated Nov 18, 2020
- Criminal Case Management Appearances on or after November 30, 2020 – Nov 18, 2020
- COVID 19 Practice Direction Authorizing Alternate Form of Appearance where Enhanced Designation Filed – updated Nov 16, 2020
- Additional Court Locations Commencing Virtual Criminal Case Management Appearances in Oct and Nov – Oct 22, 2020
- Additional Court Locations Commencing Virtual Criminal Case Management on Sept 21 – Sept 17, 2020
- Additional Court Locations Commencing Virtual Criminal Case Management Appearances on Sept 8 – Sept 2, 2020
- Scheduling and Conducting of Virtual Criminal Case Management Appearances – Aug 26, 2020
- Scheduling and Conducting of Virtual Criminal Case Management Appearances – Aug 20, 2020
- Province-Wide Implementation of Virtual Case Management Courts – Aug 19, 2020
- Waiver of Personal Attendance and Request for Adjournment – August 12, 2020
- Virtual Criminal Case Management Appearances in Kitchener and Ottawa – Aug 6, 2020
- COVID 19 Practice Direction Authorizing Alternate Form of Appearance where Enhanced Designation Filed – Aug 6, 2020
- Update regarding Criminal Case Management Appearances – July 28, 2020
- Criminal Case Management Appearances Dates – July 2, 2020
- Public Statement by Ontario’s three Chief Justices-National Day for Truth and Reconciliation-Sept 30, 2022
- Chief Justice Message re COVID-19 – March 18, 2022
- Message re COVID-19 – January 4, 2022
- Message re COVID-19 – December 20, 2021
- Message re COVID-19 – December 15, 2021
- Public Statement by Ontario’s three Chief Justices-Sept 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation-Sept 2021
- Ontario Court of Justice Notice-National Day for Truth and Reconciliation September 30, 2021 (Court Closure) – Sept 2021
- Message re COVID-19 – August 3, 2021
- Resumption of out-of-custody trials and preliminary inquiries as of May 25, 2021 – May 18, 2021
- Reducing out‐of-Custody Trials and Preliminary Inquiries between April 26 and May 21, 2021- updated May 4, 2021
- Adjournment of out-of-custody Trials and Preliminary Inquiries between April 26 and May 7, 2021-Apr 21, 2021
- Message re COVID-19 – April 8, 2021
- Message re COVID-19 – January 13, 2021
- Message re COVID-19 – December 13, 2020
- Message re COVID-19 – November 21, 2020
- Resumption of Criminal Trials and Preliminary Inquiries Nov 30, 2020 in additional locations – Nov 16, 2020
- Continuity of Court Operations in Thunder Bay using Remote Technology or at an Alternate Location – Nov, 6 2020
- Resumption of In-Person Criminal Hearings at Guelph (36 Wyndham Street South) – Oct 30 2020
- In-Person Criminal Hearings Temporarily Suspended at Guelph (36 Wyndham Street South) – Oct 21, 2020
- Criminal Trials and Preliminary Inquiries Resuming at Stratford on September 28, 2020 – Sept 25, 2020
- Criminal Trials and Preliminary Inquiries Resuming at Gore Bay, Orillia and Woodstock on Sept 16- Sept 15, 2020
- Delay in Resuming Criminal Trials and Preliminary Inquiries-Gore Bay Orillia Stratford Woodstock-Sept 11, 2020
- Resumption of Criminal Trials and Preliminary Hearings – Aug 26, 2020
- Resumption of Criminal Trials and Preliminary Hearings-CP Kenora Timmins Peterborough Burlington – Aug 6, 2020
- Criminal Trials and Preliminary Inquiries – Guelph – July 6, 2020
- Delay in Resuming Criminal Trials and Preliminary Inquiries – College Park and Guelph – July 4, 2020
- COVID 19 Notice to Counsel and the Public-Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice-updated July 2, 2020
- Resumption of Criminal Trials and Preliminary Hearings as of July 6, 2020 – June 17, 2020
- COVID 19 Notice to Counsel and the Public-Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice-updated June 1, 2020
- COVID 19 Notice to Counsel and the Public-Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice-updated May 22, 2020
- COVID 19 Notice to Counsel and the Public-Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice – May 11, 2020
- Scheduling of Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice – May 4, 2020
- Scheduling of Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice – March 28, 2020
- Message re COVID-19 – March 23, 2020
- Scheduling of Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice – March 20, 2020
- Scheduling of Criminal Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice – March 16, 2020
- Message re COVID-19 – March 15, 2020
- Judicial Criminal Pre-trial Best Practices – Sept 2015
- Revised Guidelines re Mode of Appearance – Criminal Proceedings – June 30, 2023
- Interim Guidelines re Mode of Appearance – Criminal Proceedings – updated Jan 14, 2023
- Clarifying the Mode of Counsel’s Appearance under the Interim Guidelines – October 7, 2022
- Interim Guidelines re Mode of Appearance for Ontario Court of Justice Criminal Proceedings – Mar 18, 2022
- Public Statement by Ontario’s three Chief Justices regarding the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation – Sept 30, 2023
- National Day for Truth and Reconciliation September 30, 2022 – Criminal Matters- Sept 2022
- Public Statement by Ontario’s three Chief Justices-National Day for Truth and Reconciliation-Sept 30, 2022
- Ontario Court of Justice Notice-National Day for Truth and Reconciliation September 30, 2021 (Court Closure) – Sept 2021
- Public Statement by Ontario’s three Chief Justices-Sept 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation-Sept 2021
- September 30, 2021 – Criminal Case Adjournment Dates
- Practice Direction Serving and Filing Criminal Court Documents – May 8, 2023
- Practice Direction-Serving and Filing Criminal Court Documents – Dec 1, 2022
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – emailing documents November 19, 2020
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – emailing documents June 17, 2020
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – emailing documents May 14, 2020
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – emailing documents March 28, 2020
FAMILY
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – September 25 2020
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – September 18 2020
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – September 11 2020
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – July 6 2020
- Notice to the Legal Profession and the Public – March 28 2020
- Notice to the Profession – March 20 2020
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice – August 29, 2023
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (March 18, 2022)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (January 4, 2022)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (December 20, 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (November 12, 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (July 30, 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (May 26, 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (effective May 4 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (April 21 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (April 8 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (April 7 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (January 14 2021)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (November 17 2020)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice – Stratford (September 25 2020)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (September 18 2020)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (September 11, 2020) Resumption of In-Person Hearings
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (August 10 2020)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (July 2 2020)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (June 17 2020)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (May 7 2020)
- Scheduling of Family Matters in the Ontario Court of Justice (March 28 2020)
PROVINCIAL OFFENCES
- Resuming Guilty Pleas as July 6, 2020
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – Revised May 10, 2022
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – April 28, 2022
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – Revised September 1, 2021
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – March 31, 2021
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – January 21, 2021
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – December 23, 2020
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – Revised November 25, 2020
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and Public Revised – October 14, 2020
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and Public – Revised September 11, 2020
- COVID-19: Notice to Counsel Paralegals and Public – Revised September 2, 2020
- COVID-19-Notice to Counsel Paralegals and the Public – May 19, 2020
- Notice to Public – May 4 2020
- Notice to Public – March 23 2020
- Order pursuant to section 85 – August 14 2023
- Order pursuant to section 85 – January 10 2022
- Order pursuant to section 85 – August 10 2021
- Order pursuant to section 85 – March 31 2021
- Order pursuant to section 85 – January 21 2021
- Order pursuant to section 85 – November 25 2020
- Order pursuant to section 85 – September 10 2020
- Order pursuant to section 85 – March 15 2020