Glossary

In Immigration Law, Refugee Law

Your spouse is someone who you’re legally married to. You must have both been physically present at the wedding.

In Criminal Law

It is an indictable offence to cause damage to property by starting a fire or explosion with the intention of defrauding any person.

In Refugee Law

In Immigration Law, Income Assistance

A statutory declaration is a statement that someone puts in writing. The person making the statement must sign it to confirm that they’re telling the truth.

They sign it in front of someone who has the legal authority to take oaths or affirmations. This includes lawyers and notaries.

Making a statutory declaration is the same as giving evidence under oath at a court or tribunal.

In Employment and Work, Getting paid, Wages, Overtime, Vacation & holiday pay , Pay deductions

The law says that there are certain amounts that an employer must take from an employee’s wages. These are called statutory deductions.

For example, employers must take money for income taxes, Employment Insurance (EI) premiums, and Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions.

An employer cannot take more than what the law allows. And they must send the money to the proper place.

In Criminal Law

Anyone serving a prison sentence must be released after serving two-thirds of their sentence. This is known as a statutory release. There is no statutory release for someone serving a life sentence.

In Criminal Law

Charges are “stayed” when a judge or a Crown decides that it would be bad for the justice system for the case to continue. This means the issue of guilt or innocence is never determined.

Stays can be granted when the state has acted unfairly, including a failure to bring the case to trial in a timely manner. A judicial stay brings the case to an end.

A different type of “stay” is done by the Crown. A Crown stay puts the case on hold. The Crown can bring the charges back before the court within 1 year of the date the charges were stayed. After a year has passed, the Crown cannot bring the stayed charges back before the court.

In Housing Law

Give your rented home temporarily to a new tenant, who is called your subtenant, for part of the term of your tenancy. Usually you need the landlord’s permission. You are still responsible to the landlord for the rent and for taking care of the place. You keep the right to move back in when the subletting agreement ends.

In Criminal Law

A subpoena is a court order that says a person must go to court. It’s also called a summons.

You may get a subpoena if you’re a witness in a court case. The subpoena tells you:

• where and when to go to court,
• who you are a witness for, and
• if you need to bring any documents or evidence to court.

If you do not do what it says in the subpoena, you could be arrested.

In Housing Law

Subsidized means that a part of a tenant’s rent is paid by a government agency or a non-profit organization. To get a subsidy, the tenant usually must have a household income below a certain amount. Subsidized housing is sometimes called rent-geared-to-income, or RGI, housing because the amount of rent the tenant pays sometimes depends on their income.