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Public Prosecution Service of Canada
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC; French: Service des poursuites pénales du Canada (SPPC)) was established on December 12, 2006, by the Director of Public Prosecutions Act. A federal agency, the PPSC prosecutes offences on behalf of the Government of Canada. It is responsible to Parliament through the attorney general of Canada, who litigates on behalf of the Crown and has delegated most prosecution functions to the PPSC.
The director of public prosecutions – currently George Dolhai – leads the day-to-day operations of the PPSC and is responsible to the attorney general, and has the rank and status of a deputy head of a department. For the purposes of federal prosecutions, the director of public prosecutions is the deputy attorney general of Canada.
For federal cases in Canada, a senior general counsel (Criminal Law) is assigned from the PPSC, an office of the Attorney General of Canada. The headquarters of the service is located in Ottawa, Ontario.
The PPSC's primary role is to prosecute offences that belong to federal jurisdiction, such as those stemming from the Income Tax Act, Fisheries Act, Excise Act, Customs Act, Canada Elections Act, Canadian Environmental Protection Act and Competition Act.
It also handles offences related to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in the country, except in the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick where only drug cases initiated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are brought before court by the PPSC. In Quebec, that would mean only narcotic cases with extraterritorial ramifications – which are handled by the RCMP – are prosecuted by the PPSC, as it has its own provincial police force, the Sûreté du Québec. New Brunswick does not have a provincial police force and relies on the RCMP.
In the three territories, the PPSC has jurisdiction over all Criminal Code offences. In the provinces, it is only in charge of a limited number of Criminal Code cases, which are usually related to terrorism, criminal organizations, money laundering, tax evasion and other crimes that violate federal laws. The vast majority of prosecutions are under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Criminal Code, with other major federal statutes that are enforced including the Fisheries Act, Income Tax Act, and Employment Insurance Act.
Beyond that, the PPSC can also give advice to any law enforcement agency nationwide and in various areas of federal legislation.
In limited cases explicitly delegated by provincial prosecution services due to conflicts of interest, the PPSC can pursue what would otherwise be a provincial prosecution, as it did in 2017 with respect to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's chief of staff, David Livingston, in relation to hiring someone to illegally wipe government hard drives.
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Public Prosecution Service of Canada
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC; French: Service des poursuites pénales du Canada (SPPC)) was established on December 12, 2006, by the Director of Public Prosecutions Act. A federal agency, the PPSC prosecutes offences on behalf of the Government of Canada. It is responsible to Parliament through the attorney general of Canada, who litigates on behalf of the Crown and has delegated most prosecution functions to the PPSC.
The director of public prosecutions – currently George Dolhai – leads the day-to-day operations of the PPSC and is responsible to the attorney general, and has the rank and status of a deputy head of a department. For the purposes of federal prosecutions, the director of public prosecutions is the deputy attorney general of Canada.
For federal cases in Canada, a senior general counsel (Criminal Law) is assigned from the PPSC, an office of the Attorney General of Canada. The headquarters of the service is located in Ottawa, Ontario.
The PPSC's primary role is to prosecute offences that belong to federal jurisdiction, such as those stemming from the Income Tax Act, Fisheries Act, Excise Act, Customs Act, Canada Elections Act, Canadian Environmental Protection Act and Competition Act.
It also handles offences related to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in the country, except in the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick where only drug cases initiated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are brought before court by the PPSC. In Quebec, that would mean only narcotic cases with extraterritorial ramifications – which are handled by the RCMP – are prosecuted by the PPSC, as it has its own provincial police force, the Sûreté du Québec. New Brunswick does not have a provincial police force and relies on the RCMP.
In the three territories, the PPSC has jurisdiction over all Criminal Code offences. In the provinces, it is only in charge of a limited number of Criminal Code cases, which are usually related to terrorism, criminal organizations, money laundering, tax evasion and other crimes that violate federal laws. The vast majority of prosecutions are under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and the Criminal Code, with other major federal statutes that are enforced including the Fisheries Act, Income Tax Act, and Employment Insurance Act.
Beyond that, the PPSC can also give advice to any law enforcement agency nationwide and in various areas of federal legislation.
In limited cases explicitly delegated by provincial prosecution services due to conflicts of interest, the PPSC can pursue what would otherwise be a provincial prosecution, as it did in 2017 with respect to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's chief of staff, David Livingston, in relation to hiring someone to illegally wipe government hard drives.