OCJT Fifth Plea Court – Courtroom 805 – Self-represented, Duty Counsel and Assist Plea Court

Given the volume of matters in the plea courts, effective June 1, 2026, a fifth Plea Court will begin operating in Courtroom 805 with all self-represented persons and duty counsel matters heard in 805 court.

1. All self-represented (SR) matters in the plea courts will be heard in 805 court.
   1. This includes all SR resolutions.
   2. This includes SR matters where the Crown is seeking s. 486.3 appointments.
   3. This includes any SR case management matters that are sent to the plea courts.
   4. Where an accused is left without counsel after an application to remove counsel of record, the SR accused will return in 805 on their next court appearance.
2. All Duty Counsel matters would go into 805 court.
   1. Duty Counsel will staff the courtroom and be available to assist the court all day.
   2. Duty Counsel-assisted guilty pleas will be dealt with in this court.
   3. Same-day traversals from TRBC and the 200-series CM courts, which involve in-custody accused at likely time-served, would go into 805 court.
   4. If self-represented accused persons do not attend court and Duty Counsel has contact information for that person, Duty Counsel will send a message to them. 
   5. Removing self-represented matters is expected to free up time in the other Plea Courts and enable them to prioritize counsel matters that are ready to proceed. 
   6. Duty Counsel will have a staff and an office on the 8th floor.  
   7. Having all DC matters in 805 will make it easier to send DC-assisted matters (including in-custody, time-served matters) to other assist courts when they open up.
   8. Moving all the self-represented and Duty Counsel matters into one courtroom should improve the efficiency of all the Plea Courts. This will benefit private counsel, who will not have to share the four existing plea courts with self represented persons and duty counsel, and self-represented accused persons in the Plea Courts will be better served.
3. Assist Court
   1. 805 court will also function as an assist court, assisting the other 4 plea courts, all located in the same hallway on the 8th floor.
   2. Since this courtroom will be staffed by a court officer, 805 court will assist the other pleas courts with priority given to in-custody pleas.

Sending matters into the plea courts

While there has been great success reducing the number of matters in the Case Management Courts that are over 6 months old, the Plea Courts have seen a dramatic rise in matters adjourned from Case Management into Plea Courts for case management and not for pleas. 

If a defendant indicates that they wish to resolve their matter, it should be adjourned to a Plea Court on a date when the parties will be ready for the plea to be entered not before.

If a matter returns following a 12-week adjournment, and the parties are not prepared or ready to “choose their lane”, a Judicial Pre-trial should be set and the matter return in the Case Management Court. The Crowns have access to the JPT calendar and can schedule the matter in court.  Urgent time-sensitive matters at risk of exceeding the 6-month deadline can be scheduled with the Trial Co-ordinator for a JPT to be held on short notice. 

Following the JPT, the parties will be expected to either schedule a resolution or trial/preliminary hearing date.  If issues require single judge case management, that will be canvassed at the JPT and the matter can return before the judge for those issues to be resolved. If the matter is not resolving and trial and/or preliminary hearing dates are to be set, the parties should be instructed to complete a Trial Scheduling Form and appear at the Trial Coordinator’s physical counter, virtual drop-in counter for on-demand trial scheduling, or, if eligible, through a scheduled Trial Scheduling call