Who We Are / What we do

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, commonly known as the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), is a national, independent and accountable prosecuting authority whose main objective is to prosecute federal offences and provide legal advice and assistance to law enforcement agencies.

As of March 31, 2019, the PPSC had 1060 employees,^{Note 5} of which approximately 45% are prosecutors. The remainder of the PPSC staff is comprised of paralegals, support staff, functional specialists and management.^{Note 6} In addition to its own prosecutors, the PPSC retains the services of 400 private-sector prosecutors known as Crown Agents.

PPSC Headquarters is located in Ottawa, and the organization maintains a network of regional and local offices across Canada. The PPSC must provide prosecutors in each judicial district in Canada and has at least one permanent office in each of the three territories and each province, except Prince Edward Island.

Mandate

The mandate of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada is set out in the Director of Public Prosecutions Act. Pursuant to the Act, the PPSC provides prosecutorial advice to law enforcement agencies and acts as prosecutor in matters that fall within the authority of the Attorney General of Canada on behalf of the Crown.

Between October 1, 2014, and March 31, 2019, the Commissioner of Canada Elections (CCE) was part of the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and was institutionally separate from Elections Canada. On April 1, 2019, as a result of the Elections Modernization Act (Bill C-76) which amended the Canada Elections Act, the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections was reinstated within the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer. However, the PPSC continues to be responsible for conducting prosecutions on behalf of the Crown with respect to offences under the Canada Elections Act.

Key Roles of the PPSC

On a national level, the PPSC performs a number of key roles, including:

• acting as a prosecutor on behalf of the Crown in matters within the jurisdiction of the Attorney General of Canada;
• providing legal advice to federal investigative agencies and government departments on the criminal law implications of investigations and prosecutions;
• applying for various types of judicial authorizations before charges are laid to enable the police to carry out their investigations lawfully, including wiretap applications and applications for special search warrants and restraint orders;
• reviewing charges and exercising the Attorney General of Canada’s discretion to prosecute;
• performing legal and strategic risk assessments and developing plans for managing the prosecution of high-complexity cases; and
• acting as a center of expertise for criminal law and providing the prosecutor’s perspective on the development of amendments to federal statutes relevant to the criminal justice system.

Role of Our Prosecutors

Prosecutors play a key role in the Canadian criminal justice system. This role is quasi-judicial in nature, imposing on prosecutors the duty to be objective, independent, and dispassionate. They must see that all cases deserving of prosecution are brought to trial and prosecuted with competence, diligence, and fairness. Prosecutors must be of integrity, above all suspicion, and must exercise considerable discretion bestowed on them fairly, in good faith, and without any consideration of the political implications of their decisions. While they must be advocates, their role is not to seek convictions at any cost, but to put before the court all available, relevant, and admissible evidence necessary to enable the court to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused.

Areas of Prosecution

The PPSC’s areas of prosecution vary by province and territory based on different statutes, as described below.

Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and Cannabis Act

In most provinces and all territories, the PPSC is responsible for prosecuting all drug offences under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA), regardless of whether a federal, provincial or municipal investigative agency lays the charges. The exceptions are provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick, where the PPSC only prosecutes drug offences if they were investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

On October 17, 2018, the Cannabis Act came in effect and thereby altered Canada’s approach to cannabis. As of this date, serious cannabis offences, such as sale, importation and exportation, previously prosecuted under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, fall under the jurisdiction of the new Cannabis Act. The PPSC is responsible for the prosecution of both criminal and regulatory offences under the Act, and in most provinces and all territories prosecutes cannabis offences regardless of whether a federal, provincial or municipal investigative agency lays the charges, with the exception of Quebec and New Brunswick, where the PPSC only prosecutes offences investigated by the RCMP.

The PPSC established a Cannabis Act Implementation Committee (CAIC), which includes representatives from all regions and from Headquarters in Ottawa. The CAIC developed and delivered training across all regions of the PPSC and continues to develop guidance on issues as they arise under the new regime.

Criminal Code

The PPSC has concurrent jurisdiction with all the provinces to prosecute certain Criminal Code offences such as terrorism, criminal organization offences, money laundering and proceeds of crime, and fraud. Upon request of the provincial Attorney General or under specific arrangements with the provinces, the PPSC may also prosecute Criminal Code offences that are otherwise within provincial jurisdiction when the accused also faces charges within federal jurisdiction. However, in the Yukon, Nunavut, and North West Territories, the PPSC has exclusive jurisdiction for prosecuting all Criminal Code offences.

Federal Statutes

In all provinces and territories, the PPSC prosecutes violations of all other federal statutes, such as the Fisheries Act; the Income Tax Act; the Excise Act; the Customs Act; the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999; the Competition Act; and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act; as well as conspiracies and attempts to violate these statutes. In total, the PPSC may be called upon to prosecute offences under any of 250 statutes. In practice, however, the PPSC more routinely advises on and prosecutes offences under approximately 40 federal statutes.^{Note 7}