“Transit By-law Ticket”

Okay so myself and 3 friends were in our car at a Transit Station Park-and-Ride.

The transit officer came up to the vehicle and saw marijuana in the car, he searched the car and left us with tickets that read

'Possesion of illegal drugs contrary to the City of Ottawa Public Transit By-Law 2007-268 section 19-2C'

We are all required to attend a court date in march due to the fact that there is not set fine for this. (See link below)

Clearly we were not charged through the criminal code but I'm wondering if this could turn into a criminal record somehow?

Thank you in advance.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that the City of Ottawa publishes the actual Transit By-law on their website; only the set fines portion. I was however able to find an older version of their Transit by-law which you can read here.

If you go to section 35, you'll see it discusses Penalties. You'll notice that only a fine (and prohibition order) are available to the court to hand out. In other words, jail is not a possibility.

However, keep in mind that this is based on this old by-law. Clearly, you need to research the current by-law and see if the language has changed. If it has and they proceed via Part III of the Provincial Offences Act, than it is possible that jail is an available sanction. I highly doubt that's the situation though!

As for your question regarding this showing up on your criminal record, the answer is no--- POA offences like this aren't recorded on CPIC (i.e. Canada's criminal record database managed by the RCMP).

Without the officer's notes, you don't know what evidence the crown will use against you. Officer realistically will not remember you or the event in another 8-10 months; officer and the crown will be relying heavily on the details written in the notes. They will be using it to secure a conviction.