This fact sheet is based on two Canadian publications from 2005 and 2010, publicly available and special request data from the Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics at Statistics Canada, and internal research reports prepared by Justice Canada.
A preliminary inquiry is a judicial hearing that is used in serious criminal cases to determine whether the evidence assembled by the Crown against an accused person is sufficient to proceed with a trial. The preliminary inquiry is not a trial in the strict sense, although evidence is given under oath and the accused or the accused’s counsel is entitled to cross examine any witnesses summoned by the Crown.
The findings reported below may differ from other Statistics Canada and Justice Canada reports on preliminary inquiries. One reason for the differences is the change in concept/methodology used to produce the figures. The change in this JustFacts involves reporting preliminary inquiries if there were “any-in-the-case”. Previous work on preliminary inquiries has generally used data and reported trends only for the most serious offence. Different figures are also due to data updates following the last statistical release.