Canadian Criminal Evidence/Documentary Evidence/Private Documents

General Principles
Documents that are generated by someone other than a public institution, a court, financial institution, or business are admissible under statute and common law.

Investigation Records
Records that re generated in the course of an investigation cannot fall within business records as they are not being kept within the ordinary course of business.

It is important to distinguish records made from the investigation and those that are simply retrieved during the investigation. Even materials such as the contents of a report that extracts from a larger body of records will be considered pre-existing.

Notice of Intention to Admit Documents
Notice is usually required for submitting most forms of documentary evidence.

Nevertheless, appellate court have frequently refused to invalidate notices on technicalities of procedure. The purpose of the notice provisions is to "simply the production of evidence" which would reduce the time and cost of criminal prosecutions.

Documents and records are addressed under s. 28 of the Canada Evidence Act:

Form of Service
The form of notice is not specific in the legislation and so can be in many forms, including by the admission of the documenet in the preliminary inquiry hearing.

Party to Serve
Service is usually served upon counsel for the party. However, service on an assistant or secretary is also permitted. Service on relatives of the accused is not always sufficient. Service by fax machine to the counsel's address is satisfactory.

Service must be proven by oral evidence and not simply affidavit.

Notice of certificates of analysis of drugs seized must be made to be admissible. Simply providing disclosure does not constitute notice.

Proof of service
It is not always necessary for a police witness recall the specifics of affecting service of a document. If it is a standard procedure that they can testify that they always follow, and there is no recollection of there being a failure ot follow the procedure, the judge may conclude that it was done properly.