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General Information about the Jury System in Ontario

The process by which juries are selected is described in the Juries Act. The lists of names are taken from the most recent enumeration lists that we obtain from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. Names are selected randomly for each county or district and the questionnaires for jury service are mailed based on that criterion.

The enumeration lists are updated only once every three years and will not reflect changes in personal circumstances within that time period.

When an enumeration takes place, persons at the households indicate their date of birth and their citizenship. When the random selection process is requested, the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation selects persons for each district who have indicated by the returns (enumeration form) that they are over 18 years of age and are Canadian citizens. Each year the start point of the file is altered, hence creating the random selection process.

As part of the selection process, questionnaires are mailed out to individuals to determine their ability to be considered as potential jurors. You are not automatically summoned for jury duty as a result of receiving and completing a questionnaire. It is also possible to receive a questionnaire each year after having served on a jury panel.

Taking this process into account, there still remains the possibility a name may appear each year or every couple of years.

According to the Juries Act, a person is eligible to serve on jury duty once every three years.

There is a process to be followed in order to be excused from serving as a member of a jury in cases of undue hardship. The process is to write to or appear before the presiding justice, where you were summoned to, who will then make a determination based on the request before him or her.

If you have been summoned and want to contact your local court office, you can find a listing of court addresses at the following site: http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/courts/cadaddr.asp

For comments or questions related to jury duty, please email juryduty@jus.gov.on.ca.