Provincial Offences Administration & Prosecution
Effective February 7, 2000, the City of Hamilton assumed the responsibility for the administration and prosecution of the Provincial Offences within the former Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth, now the New City of Hamilton. Provincial Offences charges can range from charges under the Highway Traffic Act, Compulsory Automobile Act, Liquor Licence Act and Trespass to Property Act.
Administration
The Provincial Offences Office for the City of Hamilton is located at 45 Main Street, East, Suite 408, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 2B7, within the John Sopinka Courthouse.
You can pay your fine, request a first attendance hearing or trial, file an appeal, order a transcript or make a general inquiry concerning the administration of your Provincial Offences matter. The administrative section of this office is part of the Clerk’s Division for the City of Hamilton and our direct line is (905) 540-5592. You can reach our office by fax at (905) 540-5730. You can also arrange to process your fine payment by credit card by contacting our office. Staff will require a fax number to forward the appropriate form to you for completion and signature. You will then need to fax this form to our office and the payment will be processed within 24 hours of receipt.
Payment Methods
Your payment can be made in person to this office and made by the following methods: cash, cheque, money order, debit, visa and mastercard. Mail payments are also accepted by all previously mentioned methods except cash & debit. Please be sure to include your offence notice, notice of fine and due date or the ticket number with your payment.
Internet payment option available by visiting this page or www.paytickets.ca which includes a $3.00 handling fee when using your visa or mastercard for payment.
Online Forms
To speed up the administrative process, we have made some of our forms available online. Fill them out and bring them to our court location at John Sopinka Courthouse, 45 Main St. E., 4th Floor, Suite 408, Hamilton. Click here to access forms.
Prosecution
The prosecutors are located within the Provincial Offences Office and can be reached for disclosure at the address mentioned above. The prosecutors are part of the Legal Services Department for the City of Hamilton.
First Attendance
First attendance is an informal meeting between the defendant or accused person and a prosecutor about a charge issued by a Notice of Offence (sometimes called a "ticket", but not including parking tickets), and for which court time is set aside in the event the meeting results in a resolution or plea. This meeting is voluntary, and the request for a meeting can be made in person. The meeting will be scheduled and a notice of date and time mailed to the defendant, who can also send their agent or lawyer for the meeting. Witnesses are not required to attend, and police are not present. The meetings are brief but might be used to request disclosure for the charge(s), ask the position of the prosecutor on the charge(s), to discuss time to pay a fine or the possibility of a plea to a lesser offence supported by the facts. If the defendant agrees to a resolution, the matter may then be brought before the court on the same day to approve the resolution and time to pay if needed. If no resolution is reached or approved the defendant is still entitled to a trial, and because meetings are held at the court house the defendant can file their trial request before leaving. If interested and for details on the types of offences where first attendance meetings are available, please have your offence notice ready and call (905) 540-5592. The telephone number is also on your offence notice.
Trials
Trials for Provincial Offences matters are heard at the John Sopinka Courthouse, 45 Main Street, East, Suite 408, Hamilton, Ontario L8N 2B7. Trials are scheduled into courtrooms 300, 320 or 326. A court docket is posted outside each courtroom for the cases for the current day according to the tier they are scheduled into.
Transcripts
To make an inquiry or order a transcript, please contact a court monitor for the Provincial Offences office by calling (905) 540- 5592.