If you find yourself with an outstanding warrant for your arrest, and you want to travel within Canada, you should be able to do so comfortably, that is until the moment you come face to face with law enforcement. The Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) serves as a vital tool for police officers across the country to access information pertaining to warrants, criminal accusations, and the probationary status of individuals. In the event that your information is run through CPIC by the police, perhaps during a routine traffic stop, any existing warrant will be promptly revealed. Consequently, if you happen to be within the jurisdiction that issued the warrant, brace yourself for an inevitable arrest and subsequent custody.
Moreover, crossing the Canadian border can also pose complications if the border guards uncover an outstanding warrant for your arrest. In recent years, Canadian border agents have been granted access to CPIC, which means that just like the police, they are able to search up names of people and identify individuals with arrest warrants. If a border guard searches your name and sees that you have a warrant, they have the authority to detain you until the police arrive to take you into custody.
Exploring the Complexity of Arrest Warrants Across Canadian Provinces
While warrants generally hold provincial validity, there are certain circumstances that may lead to an arrest outside of the particular province where the warrant was issued. Therefore, if you are travelling with a warrant, it is important to do so cautiously.
One of the circumstances could be in serious cases, where a Canada-wide warrant may be issued, granting authorities across the country the power to apprehend you, regardless of your location. Additionally, warrants issued by a superior court or court of appeal can result in out-of-province arrests as well.
Another scenario involves the endorsement of a warrant by a court in a different province. Once the warrant is endorsed, police in that province gain the authority to arrest you, even if the warrant was initially issued elsewhere. An example of this could be a case where a warrant is issued for your arrest in Ontario. If the British Columbia police present the warrant to a British Columbia court, and a justice or a judge endorses it, the BC police are legally allowed to arrest you, despite the warrant’s origin in Ontario.
Transferring Charges or Waiving Jurisdiction:
There are some select cases in which you have an arrest warrant in one province, where you may be able to transfer the charges to another province for resolution. However, the process is not easy, and there are numerous laws that significantly impact your ability to address warrants issued outside your current province.
Charges listed under section 469 of the Criminal Code, offences such as murder or treason, cannot be waived from one province to another.
In order to secure a waiver of charges, you would need to plead guilty to the offences, and there would also have to be reasonable assurance that you would not revoke your plea once the charges are transferred. Revoking the plea would require you to return to the originating province for trial.
Furthermore, a waiver will not be granted if it goes against the public interest. Factors considered in determining the public interest of the waiver include; the strength of your ties to the receiving province, for example, if you grew up there; the similarity of sentencing practices between the two provinces; potential for a delay if the transfer goes through; the evidence, and more specifically, if the evidence is closely tied to the province where the charges were initially received, a waiver becomes less likely.
In a circumstance where a waiver is granted, your charges will be transferred to the receiving province, where you can present sentencing submissions and have your penalty determined.
Given the constant risk that a warrant poses to your ability to travel both within and outside Canada, it is crucial to act swiftly if you suspect the existence of such a warrant. By contacting our office without delay, we can assist you in verifying the presence of a warrant, guide you through the process of resolving it, and expedite the management of your criminal charges. Don’t hesitate to reach out today.