Overview

Each year the Ontario Provincial Jury Centre mails the Mandatory Jury Eligibility Form (questionnaire) to over 850,000 people in Ontario. We use the questionnaire to determine if you are eligible to receive a jury summons and be called for jury duty selection.

If you receive a letter in the mail asking you to complete the questionnaire, you must complete the questionnaire online or request a paper-version.

Some people who receive the questionnaire have difficulty understanding how to respond to each question. This guide explains the 10 questions in the questionnaire and provides guidance for how to best respond to each.

Use this guide to help you answer the questions on the Mandatory Jury Eligibility Form.

Question 1: Do you speak, read and understand English and/or French?

This question is based on your own self-assessment.

Answer “Yes”

Answer "Yes" if you:

  • can speak, read and understand English and/or French
  • believe that you can follow a trial where all evidence and instructions are given in English and/or French
  • can understand English and/or French without the assistance of an English/French interpreter

Note: American Sign Language (ASL) can be provided for people who are deaf, with approval by a judge

Answer "No"

Answer "No" if you:

  • cannot speak, read and understand English or French
  • do not believe you can follow a trial where all evidence and instructions are given in English and/or French
  • would require an English/French interpreter to understand the language

Question 2: Are you a Canadian citizen?

Answer "Yes" if you are a Canadian citizen.

If you are not sure whether you are a Canadian citizen, please check if you may be a citizen with Immigration Canada page.

Question 3: Did you go to court for jury selection or serve as a juror on a trial or coroner's inquest in this or the two preceding years?

Answer “Yes”

Answer "Yes" if, at any point in the past 2 years, you:

  • attended court for jury selection and were dismissed
  • served as a juror in the Superior Court of Justice
  • served as a juror for a coroner’s inquest

Answer "No"

Answer "No" if, at any point in this year or the past 2 years you:

  • were summoned to court for jury selection, but the summons was cancelled before the summons date
  • were summoned to a virtual meeting with a coroner’s constable, but were not chosen as a juror for a coroner’s inquest

If you don’t remember

If you previously received a summons and attended, but don't remember the exact timing, please contact the Provincial Jury Centre at: 1-800-498-8016 or jury@ontario.ca

Question 4: Does your occupation make you ineligible for jury service pursuant to the Juries Act?

Answer “Yes”

Answer "Yes" if you are employed/licensed as any of the following ineligible occupations:

  • member of the Privy Council of Canada or the Executive Council of Ontario
  • member of the Senate, the House of Commons of Canada or the Legislative Assembly of Ontario
  • judge or justice of the peace
  • Barristers/solicitors and students-at-law, including:
    • a person licensed to practice law in Ontario as a barrister and solicitor
    • articling student
    • Law Practice Program (LPP) student during work term (not including law clerks/legal assistants/legal consultants and/or paralegals)
  • Legally qualified medical practitioners and veterinary surgeons who are actively engaged in practice, and coroners, including members of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario.
  • Persons engaged in the enforcement of law, including sheriffs, wardens of any penitentiary, superintendents, jailers or keepers of prisons, correctional institutions or lock-ups, sheriff’s officers, police officers, firefighters who are regularly employed by a fire department for the purposes of subsection 41 (1) of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, 1997, and officers of a court of justice. This includes:
    • bailiff, border services officer, by-law enforcement/parking, Canadian Coast Guard, correctional officer, customs officer, peace officer
    • probation officer and/or probation and parole officer (if you are only a parole officer, you are eligible)
    • police officer — constable (current)
    • prison escort officer, Provincial Offences Officer, park warden, transportation enforcement officer
    • firefighter regularly employed by a fire department and assigned to fire protection services, including technicians (if you are a volunteer firefighter, you are eligible)
    • court clerk, court interpreter (employees of the court), court services officer — police services, court registrar, court reporter, officers in the courts
    • licensed insolvency trustee or receiver during tenure of assignment
  • Every officer and non-commissioned member of the reserve force on active service and every officer and non-commissioned member of the regular force and special force. This includes:
    • a person who holds His Majesty’s commission in the Canadian Armed Forces
    • a person who holds the rank of officer cadet in the Canadian Armed Forces
    • any person who pursuant to law is attached or seconded as an officer to the Canadian Armed Forces
    • any person other than an officer who is enrolled in, or who, pursuant to law, is attached or seconded otherwise than as an officer, to the Canadian Armed Forces

Answer "No"

Answer "No" if your occupation is not on the list above.

Note: although your occupation may not exempt you from jury service, the ultimate determination of whether you are required to serve resides with the court. If you receive a summons in the future, you can request to be excused if service would cause hardship to yourself or others.

Question 5: If you have been convicted of a serious criminal offence

Answer “Yes”

Answer “Yes” if:

Answer “No”

Answer “No” if you have:

  • not been convicted of a criminal offence
  • been found guilty of a criminal offence but were granted a discharge or a pardon or record suspension (criminal offences do not include violations of provincial statutes, such as traffic law offences, including speeding or parking tickets)
  • been convicted of a “straight” summary offence, including an offence listed below

Criminal Code Offences – Straight Summary Offences

If you would like more information on the Criminal Code Offences, you can view it here.

  • Assisting deserter [Canadian Forces] — Section 54
  • Attempting to commit, or being an accessory after the fact to, an offence punishable on summary conviction — Section 463(c)
  • Being found in a common gaming house or betting house, or being an owner, landlord, lessor, tenant, occupier or agent who permits the use of a place as a common gaming house or betting house — Section 201(2)
  • Breaching a court prohibition order related to a bestiality offence — Section 160(5)
  • Breaching a prohibition or restitution order with respect to animal ownership — Section 447.1(2)
  • Breeding a cetacean, except for licensed scientific research – Section 445.2(2)(b)
  • Buying, taking or receiving a lot, ticket or other device in relation to lotteries and games of chance — Section 206(4)
  • Carrying a weapon while attending a public meeting — Section 89
  • Causing disturbance in public place; indecent exhibition or exposure; loitering; or disturbing peace and quiet of occupants of a dwelling-house — Section 175
  • Communicating with any person for purpose of offering sexual services near or in view of school ground, playground or daycare — Section 213(1.1)
  • Conspiracy to commit offence punishable on summary conviction — Section 465(1)(d)
  • Counselling an offence punishable on summary conviction that is not committed — Section 464(b)
  • Dealing in marked timber or lumbering equipment of another person — Section 339(2)
  • Defacing a current coin — Section 456
  • Disclosure of information relating to jury proceedings — Section 649
  • Disturbing or interrupting assemblage met for religious worship or moral, social or benevolent purpose — Section 176(2),(3)
  • Engaging in prize fight — Section 83
  • Failure to comply with an order directing that a matter not be published — Section 517
  • Failure to comply with an order restricting publication of evidence taken at a preliminary inquiry — Section 539(3)
  • Failure to comply with an order restricting publication of information that could identify victim or witness — Section 672.501(11)
  • Failure to comply with preservation demand made under section 487.012 — Section 487.0197
  • Failure to comply with preservation or production order made under sections 487.013 to 487.018 — Section — 487.0198
  • Failure to comply with publication bans — Section 486.6
  • Failure to comply with record keeping requirements associated with automobile master keys — Section 353(4)
  • Failure to comply with subsections 490.02911(1) or (2) – i.e. failure to advise police service of verdict of NCR for an offence committed outside Canada upon entry into Canada or, if already in Canada, to advise police service of a change of address — Section 490.0312
  • Failure to destroy data in accordance with section 487.0194 — Section 487.0199
  • Failure to perform duty to safeguard opening in ice or excavation on land where no death or bodily harm results — Section 263(3) (c)
  • Falsifying an employment record — Section 398
  • Fraudulently obtaining food, beverage or accommodation — Section 364
  • Fraudulently obtaining transportation — Section 393(3)
  • Improper use of bodily substances taken under warrant — Section 487.08(3)
  • Improper use or disclosure of bodily substance or results of test provided under a probation order — Section 732.11
  • Improper use or disclosure of bodily substance or results of test provided under a conditional sentence order — Section 742.31
  • Improper use or disclosure of bodily substance or results of test provided under a recognizance under sections 810, 810.01, 810.011, 810.1 or 810.2 — Section 810.4
  • Interference with boundary lines on land — Section 442
  • Interference with marine signal — Section 439(1)
  • Interference with the saving of wreck — Section 438(2)
  • Make a statement under oath or solemn affirmation by affidavit knowing that statement to be false — Section 134
  • Making, publishing, printing, executing, issuing, distributing or circulating a likeness of a current bank-note or a government or bank obligation or security — Section 457
  • Manufacture, production, sale or possession of slugs and tokens intended to be fraudulently used as substitutes for tokens in a token-operated device — Section 454
  • Member of an unlawful assembly without concealing identity — Section 66(1)
  • Nudity in public place or in public view — Section 174
  • Obtaining carriage by false billing — Section 401
  • Offences by employers with respect to trade unions — Section 425
  • Offences in relation to members of R.C.M.P. — Section 56
  • Operation with low blood drug concentration — Section 320.14(4)
  • Owning a cetacean that is kept in captivity, except for enumerated purposes, including care, rehabilitation, or licensed scientific research – Section 445.2(2)(a)
  • Participating in an unlawful lottery scheme — Section 207(3)(b)
  • Participating in an unlawful lottery scheme on an international cruise ship — Section 207.1(3)(b)
  • Possessing reproductive materials of cetaceans, except for licensed scientific research – Section 445.2(2)(c)
  • Promoting or assisting in any event in which captive cetaceans are used for unauthorized entertainment – Section 445.2(4)
  • Publication of document pertaining to a “production of a record” application — Section 278.9
  • Publication of document with information with respect to search warrant without consent of persons referenced in warrant — Section 487.2
  • Publish or broadcast any part of a trial where the jury was not present before jury retires to consider verdict — Section 648
  • Publish or report an admission or confession tendered in evidence at a preliminary inquiry — Section 542(2)
  • Publishing, broadcasting, or transmitting various documents related to a hearing on the admissibility of evidence in a criminal trial — Section 278.95
  • Stopping or impeding traffic for purpose of offering, providing or obtaining sexual services for consideration — Section 213(1)
  • Taking motor vehicle or vessel or being an occupant without consent — Section 335
  • Trespass at night — Section 177
  • Unauthorized use of bodily substance — Section 320.36(1)
  • Unauthorized use or disclosure of results — Section 320.36(2)
  • Unlawful use of military uniforms or certificates — Section 419
  • Using or authorizing the use of an application for federal employment that contravenes subsection 672.37(2) by including a section that requires disclosure of NCR material — Section 672.37(3)

Question 6: Are you physically and mentally able to perform the duties of a juror?

When answering this question, you do not need to provide details, medical documentation or a doctor’s note. This question is based on your own self-assessment. If you answer “Yes” and are summoned later, you can still request to be excused at that time if you have a health concern.

When answering, please assume any reasonable request for accommodation will be granted

Answer “Yes”

Answer “Yes” if you:

  • are physically and mentally able to serve on a jury
  • can serve with reasonable accommodation if needed
  • do not have a mental and/or physical health concern
  • currently have a health concern, but expect your health to improve by the following year and would be able to serve then

Answer “No”

Answer “No” if you:

  • have a physical or mental health concern, or both
  • believe your health would make it difficult for you to serve on a jury

Question 7: What is your date of birth?

Please ensure that you enter your date of birth using the following format: YYYY-MM-DD

Question 8: What is your current or most recent occupation?

Provide the job title that best describes your current role.

Examples include:

  • stay-at-home parent
  • student
  • unemployed
  • teacher

If you are retired

If you are retired, you may write “Retired” followed by your former occupation. For example, “retired chef”.

Questions 9 and 10: Mobile telephone, alternate telephone and email address

If you do not have an email address or alternate telephone, you do not need to complete this section.

By providing your contact information, you are consenting to receive jury-related communications by email or phone, including receiving a jury summons by email pursuant to s.17(2) of the Juries Act if you are randomly chosen to serve. Communications may include changes to the dates and times that you are required to come to the courthouse and for other jury administration purposes.