quarantine act

Thank you to all of you who stood your ground, and said NO to the UNLAWFUL travel restrictions. Because of YOU ALL travel mandates have been lifted!

THANK YOU FREEDOM WARRIORS!

So you got a quarantine ticket... now what do you do? 

The fist step is to submit the ticket for trial, and you do so by following the steps on the back of the ticket or you can go to the city website of where the ticket was issued and in many cases they have an electronic system. We recommend doing electronic whenever possible to avoid delays with the postal service.

The most common offence that the tickets are issued for is Section 58 of the Quarantine Act. This refers refusing to comply to any order/regulation under the Orders in Council that were created under the Quarantine Act. The other common offences are section 15(1), failure to answer questions, and 15(3), failure to comply with reasonable measure.

Below are the key steps to follow to fight your ticket:

1. Submit for trial (there is an option for early resolution where you can speak to the prosecutor and take a lesser fine in exchange for a guilty plea, we always recommend the trial option)

***DO NOT IGNORE THE TICKET AND DO NOT RETURN WITH RESCIND/NO CONTRACT - this will net out in getting a final bill!***

2. Request disclosure from the prosecutor once you have a trial date (see the Self-Representation page to learn more about disclosure). You want to read through your disclosure in great detail, look for every name that appears and for the correlating notes or statements. If there is anything missing, for example no notes appear when you saw notes being taken in the moment, you must ask for them as that is not giving you full disclosure and without that you cannot have a full defence. Disclosure may include:

The disclosure may include:

• a synopsis or police summary of the case
• a Crown screening form
• a copy of the information
• police officer's notes
• witness statements
• surveillance video and photos
• financial documents
• medical records
• forensic reports

3. In your first appearance you will state your plea and/or request dismissal using the travel script OR if you do not have disclosure you will request it now BEFORE stating your plea. Always have your disclosure and thoroughly review it before you determine your plea. 

4. After your first court appearance you may have Judicial Pre-Trial or Pre-Trial meeting with the prosecutor and the Justice of the Peace. This is a meeting to set up the particulars of the trial, schedule the date, the duration, etc.

5. In the pre-trial ask for the following:

a. prosecutor's witness list - who will they be brining in as a witness.

b. the contact info of everyone you want to bring into the court to question; the CBSA and Public Health agents and anyone else listed in your disclosure you wish to question on the stand.

6. Then start preparing your case. Go over the disclosure and the questions you may want to ask witnesses and have your script ready to ask for dismissal download that HERE.

You can read all the details for next steps on the Self-Representation page on our site, read more HERE.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO FILE A COMPLAINT TO CBSA YOU CAN DO SO HERE.

We recommend that folks do self-representation for these tickets. The reason being is that most lawyers are only interested in taking deals, and if that's what you want to do you can do that free of charge by choosing "Early Resolution" on your ticket. Know this is a conviction, just with a reduced fine.

We have a section of our site designated as a step-by-step guide on how to navigate the courts to do self-representation. You can read more HERE.

We also host self-representation Zooms every 2nd Monday of the month, and we always allocate time for questions! All are welcome to join us to learn how to self-represent in confidence.

Please join our mailing list to get the Zoom link.