Glossary
When a person is not mentally capable of making decisions, someone must make decisions for them. This person is called a substitute decision-maker (SDM). An SDM can make decisions about your personal care, health care, and medical treatments.
If you have a Power of Attorney for Personal Care, your attorney is your SDM. If you have a guardian of the person, your guardian is your SDM, even if you have a Power of Attorney for Personal Care. If you do not have either of these, the law says who will be your SDM.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Health and Disability, Wills and Powers of Attorney
A substitute decision-maker (SDM) is someone who can make personal care decisions for you when you’re not mentally capable. This includes decisions about where you live, what you eat, getting dressed, washing and having a bath, and staying safe. This might be the attorney you name in your Power of Attorney for Personal Care.
The Health Care Consent Act says who can be SDMs for health-care decisions. This includes situations where a doctor finds that you’re not capable of making your own decisions about medical treatment.
In Criminal Law
When you sue a person or an organization, you ask a civil court to award you money. This money is intended to compensate you for something that the person or organization did that was wrong.
In Criminal Law
Most criminal offences are “hybrid” offences. This means the Crown uses the specific facts of each case to decide if to prosecute the case as a summary offence or as an indictable offence:
- Summary offences are considered less serious. They go to the Ontario Court of Justice where the court process is simpler and faster. There is never a jury. A judge decides the case on their own. The maximum sentence is 2 years in jail, or a $5,000 fine, or both.
- Indictable offences are considered more serious. They go to the Superior Court of Justice where the court process is more complicated and takes longer. Some cases are decided by a jury and some by a judge. The maximum sentence is often longer than 2 years in jail.
The youth court process and youth sentences are different.
Most criminal offences are “hybrid” offences. This means the Crown uses the specific facts of each case to decide if to prosecute the case as a summary offence or as an indictable offence:
- Summary offences are considered less serious. They go to the Ontario Court of Justice where the court process is simpler and faster. There is never a jury. A judge decides the case on their own. The maximum sentence is 2 years in jail, or a $5,000 fine, or both.
- Indictable offences are considered more serious. They go to the Superior Court of Justice where the court process is more complicated and takes longer. Some cases are decided by a jury and some by a judge. The maximum sentence is often longer than 2 years in jail.
The youth court process and youth sentences are different.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Family Law, Housing Law, Tribunals and Courts
A summons is a legal document that requires a witness to come to a trial or a hearing on a specific date to tell their part of the story.
In Criminal Law
A document that requires a person charged with an offence to appear in court at a certain time and place. If you do not appear in court on the date and time given in your summons, you can be charged with the criminal offence failure to appear.
In Criminal Law
The Superior Court of Justice deals with civil cases and serious criminal cases. Cases that are tried before a judge and jury are heard in the Superior Court of Justice. Judges in the Superior Court of Justice also deal with appeals from decisions made by the Ontario Court of Justice on criminal cases. All civil cases are heard in the Superior Court of Justice, except family law cases within the jurisdiction of the Ontario Court of Justice.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Family Law
The new term for supervised access is supervised parenting time for most family law cases. If you have a child protection case, the term supervised access may still be used.
Supervised parenting time is a kind of parenting time when someone else watches a parent’s visits with their child. This might be another relative like the child’s grandparent or uncle, or it might be someone from an agency like the Children’s Aid Society.
The purpose of supervised parenting time is usually to make sure the child is safe.
In Abuse and Family Violence, Family Law
A supervised access exchange is when someone watches a parent pick up or drop off the child, but does not watch the access visit. Its purpose is usually to reduce conflict between the parents, or to protect one parent from being abused by the other parent.