| Service des poursuites pénales du Canada | |
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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 2006 (2006) |
| Preceding agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Canada |
| Headquarters | 160 Elgin Street – 12th Floor,Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0H8 |
| Employees |
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| Annual budget | $201,300,000 (2018–19)[1] |
| Minister responsible | |
| Agency executive |
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| Key document |
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| Website | www |
ThePublic Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC;French:Service des poursuites pénales du Canada (SPPC)) was established on December 12, 2006, by theDirector of Public Prosecutions Act.[2] A federal agency, the PPSC prosecutes offences on behalf of theGovernment of Canada. It isresponsible toParliament through theattorney general of Canada, who litigates on behalf of the Crown and has delegated most prosecution functions to the PPSC.
Thedirector of public prosecutions – currently George Dolhai – leads the day-to-day operations of the PPSC and is responsible to the attorney general, and has the rank and status of a deputy head of a department.[3] For the purposes of federal prosecutions, the director of public prosecutions is the deputy attorney general of Canada.[4][5]
For federal cases inCanada, a senior general counsel (Criminal Law) is assigned from the PPSC, an office of the Attorney General of Canada. The headquarters of the service is located inOttawa, Ontario.
The PPSC's primary role is to prosecute offences that belong to federal jurisdiction, such as those stemming from theIncome Tax Act,Fisheries Act, Excise Act,Customs Act,Canada Elections Act,Canadian Environmental Protection Act andCompetition Act.[6]
It also handles offences related to theControlled Drugs and Substances Act in the country, except in the provinces ofQuebec andNew Brunswick where only drug cases initiated by theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are brought before court by the PPSC.[6] In Quebec, that would mean only narcotic cases with extraterritorial ramifications – which are handled by the RCMP – are prosecuted by the PPSC, as it has its own provincial police force, theSûreté du Québec. New Brunswick does not have a provincial police force and relies on the RCMP.
In thethree territories, the PPSC has jurisdiction over allCriminal Code offences. In theprovinces, it is only in charge of a limited number ofCriminal Code cases, which are usually related to terrorism, criminal organizations, money laundering, tax evasion and other crimes that violate federal laws. The vast majority of prosecutions are under theControlled Drugs and Substances Act and theCriminal Code, with other major federal statutes that are enforced including theFisheries Act,Income Tax Act, andEmployment Insurance Act.[7]
Beyond that, the PPSC can also give advice to any law enforcement agency nationwide and in various areas of federal legislation.[6]
In limited cases explicitly delegated by provincial prosecution services due to conflicts of interest, the PPSC can pursue what would otherwise be a provincial prosecution, as it did in 2017 with respect to Ontario PremierDalton McGuinty'schief of staff, David Livingston, in relation to hiring someone to illegally wipe government hard drives.[8][7]
Until 2012, the PPSC was also responsible for collections of fines levied by courts through its successful prosecutions. The in-house collections team was scheduled to be eliminated in favour of an external collection agency. At the time of elimination, approximately $129 million (CAD) was outstanding in debt, across approximately 8,000 debtees. The PPSC retained the ability togarnish wages or pursue assets if fines were not paid.[9] By 2018, outstanding debts had decreased to $8 million across 6,300 accounts, and a private company, Partners in Credit Inc., had been retained since 2016.[7]
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada was established in 2006 as an agency independent of theDepartment of Justice Canada, in order to remedy problems associated with the former Federal Prosecution Service being located within the Department.[citation needed] The Parliamentary Information and Research Service prepared a paper outlining the possible approaches that could be taken to creating the public prosecution service.[10] The enacting legislation is theDirector of Public Prosecutions Act, which was enacted as part of theFederal Accountability Act,[11] but is now listed as a separate act.[12] It was introduced by thepresident of the Treasury Board,John Baird, and received royal assent on December 12, 2006.[11]
The most prolific instance of the PPSC in the Canadian public eye was its role in theSNC-Lavalin affair, where thePrime Minister's Office asked in an allegedly improper fashion for theAttorney General of CanadaJody Wilson-Raybould to override a decision by Director of Public Prosecutions Kathleen Roussel to not extend adeferred prosecution agreement toSNC-Lavalin after its guilty plea in a fraud case in 2019.[13] The Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould did not agree to requests from senior Prime Minister's Office officials, or a later overture by Canada's most senior civil servantMichael Wernick. She purportedly objected to overriding the director without gazetting the findings. As a consequence of Hon. Jody Wilson-Raybould's actions, the PPSC was not overridden, despite the Attorney General's statutory authority to do so. The deferred prosecution agreement was a new addition to Canada's legal landscape and authority was bestowed upon the Director of Public Prosecutions. If SNC-Lavalin had received a deferred prosecution, it would not be subject to approximately 10-year sanctions from bidding on public infrastructure contracts in Canada. Instead, the bribery charge was eventually dropped afterDavid Lametti became the new Attorney General, with SNC-Lavalin paying a $280 million dollar fraud charge, which would not have led to the prohibition on bidding.[14][15][16][17]
In 2018, the PPSC was referred an Ontario public prosecution dealing with aHamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas candidate selection election by theProgressive Conservative Party of Ontario. A potential candidate not chosen sued the party and then leaderPatrick Brown, and to avoid conflict of interest, theAttorney General of Ontario referred the case to the PPSC.[18][19] Approximately a week later, the failed candidate withdrew his private suit, but the PPSC continued investigations.
The prosecution service recused itself from high-profile investigation ofMark Norman, given potential for conflict of interest, with the Alberta provincial prosecutor giving legal advice in the PPSC's stead.[20]
The PPSC declined to prosecute in the case of alleged misconduct by theOntario Liberal Party when a senior party official offered perquisites in return for aSudburyMember of Provincial Parliament to step down to make way for federalNew DemocraticMember of ParliamentGlenn Thibeault to run in that provincial electoral district.[21]
In 2019, the PPSC saw criticism over activities in its Ontario office, where some prosecutors complained about being shamed or otherwise discouraged from getting pregnant and having children, as well as an alleged "white frat bro" culture. The PPSC responded with a commitment to improve the situation and culture.[22]
Also in 2019, the PPSC conducted an internal investigation not released to the public about a botched prosecution related to a criminal defence lawyer not revealing evidence against police officers, resulting inperjury. The prosecution was eventually dropped, but the Criminal Lawyers Association had given official complaints to theLaw Society of Ontario regarding the practices of three prosecutors that were allegedly complicit in misleading the court.[23]
The PPSC received criticism in 2021 for failure to prosecute in a timely manner in the case of alleged military and corporate espionage of Qing Quentin Huang, a Canadian national accused of passing military secrets to the Chinese government from Irving Shipbuilding. After eight years of charges, a judge stayed the case under the principle of aright to a speedy trial. Blame was also allotted by the defense lawyers towardsparliament, as a major factor in the delay of prosecution was national security disclosure, a matter that parliament had not resolved.
In the light of the legal backlog created byCOVID-19, the PPSC issued recommended guidelines for determining which Canadian drug offences were to be prioritized to be tried, with a focus on diversion programs being used to create some rehabilitative and punitive result for accused persons. Critics such asMADD Canada were somewhat upset by this development due to an uptick inimpaired driving being charged ascareless driving.[24]
| Name | Start | End | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brian J. Saunders[25] | December 12, 2006 | June 27, 2017 | acting, 2006–2008 |
| Kathleen Roussel[26] | June 27, 2017 | June 21, 2024 | |
| George Dolhai | June 21, 2024 | Incumbent |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
