Vancouver's Downtown Community Court
The Jurisdiction
Geographic Area
The catchment or geographic area of the court is downtown Vancouver from Clark Drive on the east to Stanley Park on the west, with Great Northern Way as the southern boundary and the Inner Harbour and Coal Harbour of Burrard Inlet as the northern boundary.
Within the geographic area, Vancouver's Downtown Community Court serves a number of distinct neighbourhoods:
- Central Business District (including the entertainment district)
- Chinatown
- Coal Harbour
- Downtown Eastside
- Gastown
- Strathcona
- Yaletown
- West End, including Stanley Park
Offences
The community court receives:
- Provincial offences that are heard by Provincial Court judges (such as driving while prohibited, aggressive panhandling);
- all Criminal Code
offences:
- in the absolute jurisdiction of the Provincial Court (for example, shoplifting);
- summary conviction offences (such as causing a disturbance);
- hybrid offences where the Crown proceeds summarily (examples are assault causing bodily harm, impaired driving);
- Controlled Drug and Substances Act
- drug possession.
Offences relating to non-compliance with community court orders (for example, failing to appear in court or violating the terms of bail or probation) are also heard in the community court.
