Criminal cases: the time limits the law sets itself, and what they change

Verified on 9 August 2026Version 1.0General information, not legal advice

In a criminal case, some time limits depend on no one: they are written into the law. Knowing them does not replace a lawyer · but not knowing them means missing things without ever learning they existed. Every passage in quotation marks below is quoted word for word from its source · the Criminal Code for the first three, the statute governing IVAC for the fourth · with a link. The duty to hold a hearing arises only if the trial has not commenced: the time alone is not enough.

Twenty-four hours: being taken before a justice

A peace officer who arrests someone and does not release them “shall […] cause the person to be taken before a justice to be dealt with according to law: (a) if a justice is available within a period of 24 hours after the person has been arrested, the person shall be taken before a justice without unreasonable delay and in any event within that period”

Source: Criminal Code, s. 503(1) · read on 9 August 2026.

This time limit is not absolute. The next paragraph of the same section covers the reverse situation: “if a justice is not available within a period of 24 hours after the person has been arrested by the peace officer, the person shall be taken before a justice as soon as possible”. The 24 hours therefore apply where a justice is available within that period; otherwise the rule becomes “as soon as possible”.

Source: Criminal Code, s. 503(1)(b) · read on 13 August 2026.

Ninety days: the detention review hearing

The person having custody of an accused “charged with an offence other than an offence listed in section 469”, detained pending trial, “shall apply to a judge […] to fix a date for a hearing to determine whether or not the accused should be released from custody, if the trial has not commenced within 90 days from (a) the day on which the accused was taken before a justice under section 503…”

Source: Criminal Code, s. 525(1) · read on 9 August 2026.

Two further points from the same section. The obligation covers only an accused “who is not required to be detained in custody in respect of any other matter”: someone held on another matter does not trigger it. And subsection (1.1) removes the application where “the accused has waived in writing their right to a hearing and the judge has received the waiver before the expiry of the 90-day period”.

Source: Criminal Code, ss. 525(1) and 525(1.1) · read on 13 August 2026.

The victim statement, at sentencing

“When determining the sentence to be imposed on an offender or determining whether the offender should be discharged under section 730 in respect of any offence, the court shall consider any statement of a victim prepared in accordance with this section and filed with the court describing the physical or emotional harm, property damage or economic loss suffered by the victim as the result of the commission of the offence and the impact of the offence on the victim.”

Source: Criminal Code, s. 722(1) · read on 9 August 2026.

Three years: applying to IVAC for financial assistance

The statute itself sets the starting point, and it is not the date of the offence: “A qualification application must be filed within three years after the date on which the person who is a victim becomes aware of the injury they suffer due to the commission of the criminal offence or within three years after a death due to the commission of a criminal offence, as applicable.” IVAC adds that where the violence was suffered in childhood, or is sexual or domestic violence, the application may be filed at any time.

Sources: Act to assist persons who are victims of criminal offences, s. 25 · English text read at source on 10 August 2026 · IVAC eligibility conditions (in French), read on 9 August 2026.

What this page does not do

It does not say what you should do, whether a limit applies to your situation, or what happens if it is missed. Those are questions of legal advice, and in a criminal case they go to a lawyer. Legal aid covers criminal matters; eligibility depends on income, property and liquid assets, under thresholds indexed each year · we explain it in can I get legal aid for a criminal charge.

What the application does: help you record your dates · the arrest, each appearance, each condition · and the exhibits that support them. Those dates are what make the time limits verifiable.