Ontario Superior Court of Justice · Regional Direction

Criminal — Northeast Region

Practice area  Criminal (regional direction only)
Region  Northeast
Applies to  Cochrane, Gore Bay, Haileybury, North Bay, Parry Sound, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Timmins
Source  Consolidated Practice Direction for the Northeast Region
Scraped  2026-05-18

Regional direction only. This contains the Northeast Region's general provisions and its criminal-specific rules. Province-wide criminal rules are kept separately.

GENERAL PROVISIONS —

Effective date: May 1, 2026

This consolidated regional practice direction replaces all previous region-specific practice directions for the Northeast region. Except as modified below, the Consolidated Provincial Practice Directions apply to proceedings in the Northeast region.

PART 1: PRELIMINARY MATTERS

A. Presumptive Modes of Appearance

  1. The following presumptive modes of appearance apply to the following steps in a family proceeding in the Northeast region (and not as provided for in the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction for Family Proceedings):
    1. Case conference, via Zoom;
    2. Trial management conference, via Zoom, with the exception of those specifically identified by a judge or an associate judge as having a settlement conference focus;
    3. In Cochrane and Timmins only: settlement conference, via Zoom; and
    4. Binding Judicial Dispute Resolution, in person.
  2. The following presumptive modes of appearance apply to the following steps in a criminal proceeding in the Northeast region (and not as provided for in the Consolidated Provincial Practice Direction for Criminal Proceedings):
    1. Bail hearings, in person;
    2. Bail review and detention reviews, in person;
    3. Pre-trial applications, in person.
  3. Judges and associate judges sitting as Registrars in Bankruptcy will hear all bankruptcy matters in writing, or video conference. However, judges and associate judges sitting as Registrars in Bankruptcy may exercise their discretion to determine whether a matter should be heard in-person, on a case-by-case basis.
  4. A party may request that the mode of appearance for that party be changed from the presumptive mode by writing to the court at the following addresses relating to each of the eight locations in the Northeast region:
SCJ Locations Trial Coordinator Generic E-mail Address
Cochrane Cochrane.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Gore Bay / Manitoulin GoreBay.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Haileybury Haileybury.scj.tc@ontario.ca
North Bay NorthBay.scj.tc@ontario.ca
Parry Sound ParrySound.scj.tc@ontario.ca
Sault Ste. Marie SaultSteMarie.scj.tc@ontario.ca
Sudbury Sudbury.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca
Timmins Cochrane.SCJ.TC@ontario.ca

B. Scheduling with Calendly

  1. Calendly will be used in Sudbury, North Bay, Cochrane/Timmins, and Sault Ste. Marie to schedule the following appearances:
    1. Family case conferences (except in Sudbury, where they will continue to be scheduled by the Registrar);
    2. Family Settlement conferences;
    3. Family Trial management conferences; and
    4. Civil judicial pre-trial conferences.

  2. Please refer to the tip sheet which is posted on the SCJ website. This tip sheet can be found here: Calendly Tip Sheet for Counsel and Self-Represented Parties.

  3. The links for each site are set out below:

SCJ Locations Calendly Link
Cochrane https://calendly.com/cochrane-scj
North Bay https://calendly.com/northbay-scj
Sault Ste. Marie https://calendly.com/saultstemarie-scj
Sudbury https://calendly.com/sudbury-scj
Timmins https://calendly.com/timmins-scj
CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS —

PART 4: CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

A. Proceedings Originating in Chapleau and Gogama

  1. The following Superior Court of Justice matters of a criminal nature arising in Chapleau or Gogama, in the District of Sudbury, may proceed at the Superior Court of Justice in Timmins, in the District of Cochrane:
    1. Trials emanating from committals to stand trial in the Ontario Court of Justice in Chapleau or Gogama rendered after June 30, 2010, or preferred indictments in matters arising out of Chapleau or Gogama filed after June 30, 2010;
    2. Appeals from summary conviction matters in the Ontario Court of Justice in Chapleau or Gogama rendered after June 30, 2010;
    3. Application for prerogative or extraordinary remedies relating to decisions of the Ontario Court of Justice in Chapleau or Gogama rendered after June 30, 2010;
    4. Reviews of bail decisions of the Ontario Court of Justice for Chapleau or Gogama matters rendered after June 30, 2010;
    5. Detention reviews for people accused of charges in Chapleau or Gogama;
    6. Any other matters relating to charges with an alleged offence date after June 30, 2010.

B. Page Limits

  1. The following page limits apply with respect to the following documents:
    1. Factums for pre-trial applications, 20 pages
    2. Factums for summary conviction appeals, 20 pages for the applicant; 15 pages for the respondent

C. Trial Readiness Hearings

  1. In Sudbury and Gore Bay, trial readiness hearings take place in assignment court approximately 6 weeks before the date scheduled for applications and trials. Crown and defence counsel are required to complete the Trial Readiness Form (Form 18C.1, Criminal Proceedings Rules for the Superior Court of Justice (Ontario)) and file it with the registrar and upload it to Case Center three days prior to the trial readiness hearing.
  2. Counsel shall speak to their client in advance of the trial readiness hearing to obtain appropriate instructions.
  3. If the accused is self-represented, only the Crown need complete their portion of the Trial Readiness Form.
  4. At the trial readiness hearing, the parties should expect that the presiding judge will ask questions of them regarding their applications, if any, as well as whether there are any reasons why the application/trial cannot proceed on the dates that have been set.
  5. At the trial readiness hearing, the presiding judge may make such orders as are, in their discretion, appropriate, including (1) confirming the application or trial dates, (2) vacating the application or trial dates if the parties are not ready to proceed, (3) ordering the parties to a judicial pre-trial continuation, (4) receiving written re-elections, or (5) setting a date for a trial management conference.