What is the difference between a summary conviction offence and an indictable offence?
Short answer
In Canada, offences punishable on summary conviction are the least serious and are subject to a twelve-month limitation period under section 786(2) of the Criminal Code. Indictable offences are the most serious and are subject to no limitation period. Hybrid offences leave the prosecutor the choice of how to proceed.
In detail
The distinction is not just theoretical: it determines the limitation period, the procedure that applies, which court has jurisdiction, the sentence you face and the waiting period before you are eligible for a record suspension.
For summary conviction proceedings, section 786(2) sets a twelve-month limit running from the alleged act, unless the parties agree otherwise. For indictable offences, no limitation period applies.
A record suspension follows the same logic: section 4 of the Criminal Records Act provides for 5 years for an offence punishable on summary conviction and 10 years for an offence prosecuted by indictment.
Hybrid offences are very numerous. The prosecutor's election — often announced at an early stage — therefore has concrete, lasting effects, well beyond the case at hand.
What to document
For each count, note the section of the Criminal Code involved and the way the prosecutor chose to proceed (summary conviction or indictment). That information appears in the court documents. It will be essential years later, in particular to calculate your eligibility date for a record suspension.
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.