Change of Venue

• Author: Steve Coughlan/Alex Gorlewski
• Pages: 264-268

264 Preliminary Matters / Pre-trial Motions

2.5(b) Change of Venue

Is it possible to hold a fair

trial with an impartial jury in

the area where the alleged

oence occurred?1

Yes

No

The accused’s trial

shall be held there

The accused’s trial

shall be held elsewhere

in the province

Can the proceedings be

held in the accused’s oicial

language?2

Yes

No

There is a presumption at common law that an accused’s trial should take

place in the area where the oence is alleged to have occurred. This remains

the standard practice today: R v Minor, 2014 ONSC 1909 at para 6. The commu-

nity where crime occurs is, after all, that which is most aected by it, and may

be the only source of witnesses and other evidence needed to fairly adjudicate

any resulting charges. It is also, more likely than not, where the accused lives.

A sense of justice and convenience for everyone involved will usually make

it the most appropriate place for the criminal process to play out: R v Suzack

(2000), 141 CCC (3d) 449 at para 30 (Ont CA).

Despite the enduring currency of this presumption and practice, it need

not always hold, and s 470 of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 [Code] allows

any court in a province to try an oence committed within its borders. The

Code also contains two provisions — ss 599(1) and 531 — specically designed

to address situations where justice or expediency requires that proceedings be

moved outside the area that engendered them. Section 599(1) allows a court to

change the location of an accused’s trial where:

(a) it appears expedient to the ends of justice; or

(b) a competent authority has directed that a jury is not to be summoned at

the time appointed in a territorial division where the trial would other-

wise by law be held.