Appearance notice, summons, undertaking or release order: what your papers mean

Read your papers today

• The court date, the time and the courthouse address. Put them in your calendar now.
• A second date and place to have your fingerprints and photograph taken, if there is one.
• Every condition: where you must live, who you cannot contact, places you cannot go, curfews, no weapons, no alcohol.
• The charge. It is an allegation, not a conviction.
• If you lost the papers or cannot read the date, call the criminal office of the courthouse. Each province’s official court date lookup is in our court directory.

Appearance notice

An appearance notice is given by a police officer, either instead of arresting you or after an arrest, for less serious charges. It requires you to attend court on a set date and sometimes to attend for fingerprints. It carries no other conditions (Criminal Code s. 496 and 497).

Summons

A summons is issued by a justice of the peace after police swear an information (a formal charge document). It is served on you in person, or left with an adult at your home. It orders you to attend court, and sometimes to attend for fingerprints (s. 509). Getting a summons means you are charged: treat the date the same way as any other court date.

Undertaking

An undertaking is a promise you sign with the officer in charge when police release you after an arrest. Besides the court date, it can include conditions such as living at an address, no contact with named people, staying away from places, giving up a passport or not having weapons (s. 501). The conditions apply until the case ends or a court changes them.

Before 2019 the documents were called a promise to appear and a recognizance. Bill C-75 replaced them with the undertaking and the release order.

Release order (bail)

A release order is made by a justice or judge at a bail hearing when police did not release you. It can be with or without a surety, and with or without an amount of money promised or deposited (s. 515). Its conditions are usually stricter than those of an undertaking.

Fingerprints and photographs

For indictable and hybrid charges, police can require you to come to a station for fingerprints and photographs under the Identification of Criminals Act. Going is not an admission of guilt, but missing the date is an offence. If the charge ends without a conviction, you can ask for the prints and photos to be destroyed: see charges withdrawn, stayed or dismissed.

Changing a condition

Conditions in an undertaking or release order can often be changed with the Crown’s agreement, for example to move, travel for work or allow contact for child exchanges. Without agreement, a lawyer can ask a court to change them, including through a bail review in superior court. Until a new document is signed, the old conditions apply.

If you miss court or break a condition

Missing a court date, or breaking a condition, is a separate criminal offence under section 145, with a maximum of two years in jail. The judge can issue a warrant for your arrest, and on the new charge you may have to show why you should be released again. For some breaches that cause no harm, the Crown can use a judicial referral hearing instead of a new charge. Read more in our guides to failure to appear and failure to comply with a release order.