Criminal Code

Marginal note:Escape and being at large without excuse

• 145 (1) Every person who escapes from lawful custody or who is, before the expiration of a term of imprisonment to which they were sentenced, at large in or outside Canada without lawful excuse, is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Failure to attend court or surrender

  (2) Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who,

  • (a) is at large on a release order and who fails, without lawful excuse, to attend court in accordance with the release order;

  • (b) having appeared before a court, justice or judge, fails, without lawful excuse, to subsequently attend court as required by the court, justice or judge; or

  • (c) fails to surrender themselves in accordance with an order of the court, justice or judge, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Failure to comply with appearance notice or summons

  (3) Every person who is named in an appearance notice that has been confirmed by a justice under section 508 or who is served with a summons and who fails, without lawful excuse, to appear at the time and place stated in the notice or the summons, as the case may be, for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act, or to attend court in accordance with the notice or the summons, as the case may be, is guilty of

  • (a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or

  • (b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Failure to comply with undertaking

  (4) Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years or an offence punishable on summary conviction who,

  • (a) is at large on an undertaking and who fails, without lawful excuse, to comply with a condition of that undertaking; or

  • (b) is at large on an undertaking that has been confirmed by a justice under section 508 and who fails, without lawful excuse, to appear at the time and place stated in the undertaking for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act or to attend court in accordance with the undertaking.

• Marginal note:Failure to comply with order

  (5) Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years, or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction, who

  • (a) is at large on a release order and who fails, without lawful excuse, to comply with a condition of that release order other than the condition to attend court; or

  • (b) is bound to comply with an order under subsection 515(12), 516(2) or 522(2.1) and who fails, without lawful excuse, to comply with that order.

• (5.1) [Repealed, 2019, c. 25, s. 47]

• Marginal note:Not an excuse

  (6) For the purposes of subsections (3) and (4), it is not a lawful excuse that an appearance notice or undertaking states defectively the substance of the alleged offence.

• (7) [Repealed, R.S., 1985, c. 27 (1st Supp.), s. 20]

• Marginal note:Election of Crown under Contraventions Act

  (8) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(a) and subsections (3) to (5), it is a lawful excuse to fail to attend court in accordance with a summons, appearance notice, undertaking or release order, to comply with a condition of an undertaking or release order or to fail to appear at the time and place stated in a summons, an appearance notice or an undertaking for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act if — before the failure — the Attorney General, within the meaning of the Contraventions Act, makes an election under section 50 of that Act.

• Marginal note:Proof of certain facts by certificate

  (9) In any proceedings under subsections (2) to (4), a certificate of the clerk of the court or a judge of the court before which the accused is alleged to have failed to attend or of the person in charge of the place at which it is alleged the accused failed to attend for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act is evidence of the statements contained in the certificate without proof of the signature or the official character of the person appearing to have signed the certificate if the certificate states that,

  • (a) in the case of proceedings under subsection (2), the accused failed to attend court as required by the release order or, having attended court, failed to subsequently attend court as required by the court, judge or justice or failed to surrender in accordance with an order of the court, judge or justice, as the case may be;

  • (b) in the case of proceedings under subsection (3), the accused was named in an appearance notice that was confirmed by a justice under section 508 and the accused failed to attend court in accordance with the notice or failed to appear at the time and place stated in the notice for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act, as the case may be;

  • (c) in the case of proceedings under subsection (3), a summons was issued to and served on the accused and the accused failed to attend court in accordance with the summons or failed to appear at the time and place stated in the summons for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act, as the case may be; and

  • (d) in the case of proceedings under subsection (4), the accused was at large on an undertaking that was confirmed by a justice under section 508, and the accused failed to attend court in accordance with the undertaking or failed to appear at the time and place stated in the undertaking for the purposes of the Identification of Criminals Act, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Attendance and right to cross-examination

  (10) An accused against whom a certificate described in subsection (9) is produced may, with leave of the court, require the attendance of the person making the certificate for the purposes of cross-examination.

• Marginal note:Notice of intention to produce

  (11) No certificate shall be received in evidence pursuant to subsection (9) unless the party intending to produce it has, before the trial, given to the accused reasonable notice of his intention together with a copy of the certificate.