After Sentencing

If your case was decided at Provincial Court and it was a summary conviction matter, you appeal to the Court of King's Bench (closest to where you were sentenced). If the Court of King's Bench dismisses your appeal, you can ask the Court of Appeal to review that decision. The Court of Appeal may or ay not agree to do that. 

If your case was decided at the Court of King's Bench or if it was at Provincial Court but it was an indictable matter, you appeal to the Court of Appeal. If the Court of Appeal dismisses your appeal, you can ask the Supreme Court of Canada to hear your appeal. This is extremely rare. In limited cases you can appeal to the Supreme Court "as of right" (without first asking the Court for permission).

You can contact the courthouse (Court of King's Bench or Court of Appeal) to get the forms you need to file an appeal. Forms should also be available at any correctional facility.

When you appeal, you need to show that the judge made a mistake, in the law, in understanding the facts or in applying the law to the facts. In a jury trial, this could include a judge making an error in giving instructions to the jury. In a sentencing appeal, it could mean an excessively long sentence (outside the usual range for similar offences and circumstances).

The Prosecutor may also decide to appeal your case if you were found not guilty or if they think your sentence was not appropriate.

The Court of Appeal has guidebooks available to help you understand the appeal process at the Court of Appeal. There are four different guidebooks available:

How to Appeal Your Indictable Conviction

How to Appeal Your Sentence

How to Appeal from a Decision of the Court of King's Bench on a Summary Conviction Appeal

How to Respond to a Crown Appeal

If your sentence includes a probation order, you should make sure you understand all the terms and conditions of that order. The judge will read the conditions to you when making the order and, if you do not have a lawyer, you should ask the judge to explain anything you don't understand.

You will need to report to a probation officer right away (it will say the date in the order) and then follow all of the other conditions for as long as the order lasts. If for some reason you cannot report as scheduled or you are concerned about another condition, you should talk to your probation officer as soon as possible. If you breach a condition of your probation order, you can be charged with an offence. If the probation order came in the form of a suspended sentence (rather than added onto a jail term) then if you breach a condition you can be charged with an offence and you can be ordered to serve whatever sentence would have been appropriate for the original offence.

If you have served a jail sentence, you will likely have worked on a reintegration plan with your case worker or case management team. Reintegration units within provincial correctional facilities are often run by or with the support of a Tribal Council or another community organization. If you have been in a federal facility, you may have used the "section 84" process to get the support of your community on your release.

If you find yourself without a plan or if you get off track with the plan you made, there are places that can help. You can speak with your First Nation, Tribal Council, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan or other Indigenous governing body or organization to see what services they can offer.

You can also get help from:

Elizabeth Fry Society 1.888.934.4606

John Howard Society 1.888.540.7093

If you have served your sentence and waited the required amount of time (depends on the offence), you can apply to the Parole Board of Canada to have your criminal conviction removed from CPIC (the Canadian Police Information Centre database). This is called a "record suspension". If the Board grants your request, employers and other agencies will no longer see your conviction when they require a search of the CPIC database. This does not remove the record of your conviction entirely but it means that it can only be released with the approval of the federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

The required waiting period depends on how the offence was prosecuted. For an offence committed on or after March 13, 2012, the waiting period is 10 years if the offence was prosecuted by indictment and 5 years if it was prosecuted as a summary conviction offence. Convictions for sexual offences involving children are not eligible for record suspensions except in certain circumstances. You are also not eligible if you have been convicted of 3 offences prosecuted by indictment where you were sentenced to more than 2 years of jail each time.

For offences committed before 2012, things are a bit different. For a detailed chart showing waiting periods, click here.

Some other things to know...

• You must have served your entire sentence, including any period of probation and you must have paid any fine or restitution ordered.
• You do not have to wait until a driving or weapons prohibition has expired. That is not considered part of the sentence that must be served.
• The waiting period starts on the day you committed the offence, not on the day you were sentenced.