For purposes of your appeal, you must necessarily file a brief or memorandum, as the case may be.

In general, unless otherwise specified or ordered, the document to be filed is:

•  a brief if you are appealing from a conviction;
• a memorandum if the Court, a judge or the clerk requires it as part of a management measure, for example, if you wish to appeal from a sentence, which generally requires leave (i.e., permission). Most of the time, when a judge grants your application for leave to appeal or refers it to the Court, the judge will, among other things, set the filing deadline for the memorandum and the maximum number of pages it can contain.

Relevant excerpts from the evidence and a list of the authorities relied on are attached to the brief or memorandum. The judges hearing the case will review each brief or memorandum before the hearing on the merits.

Content of the appellant’s brief*

Argument

Parts I to IV cannot exceed 30 pages, unless a judge decides otherwise.

1. Facts
2. Issues in dispute
3. Grounds
4. Conclusions
5. Authorities (It is in this part that each party sets out its list of authorities)

Schedules

The three schedules include, in particular:

• Schedule 1 : The judgment under appeal (including the reasons given) and, in the case of an appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court sitting in appeal or a decision regarding an extraordinary remedy, the decisions of the lower courts.
• Schedule 2 :
  • i. the notice of appeal and, where applicable, the application for leave to appeal and the judgment granting the application or referring it to the Court, as the case may be;
  • ii. the indictment, the minutes of the hearing in first instance as well as the pleadings before the trial court that are relevant to the appeal;
  • iii. all applicable statutory and regulatory provisions.
• Schedule 3 : Those exhibits and depositions or extracts thereof necessary for the Court to decide the issues in dispute.

* See: Model in Criminal Matters — Appellant’s Brief; Model in Criminal Matters — Respondent’s Brief

Content of the appellant’s memorandum*

Argument

Parts I to IV cannot exceed 10 pages, unless the Court or a judge orders otherwise.

1. Facts
2. Issues in dispute
3. Grounds
4. Conclusions
5. Authorities

Schedules

The three schedules include, in particular:

• Schedule 1 : The sentence (including the reasons and the conclusion).
• Schedule 2 :
  • i. the application for leave to appeal and the judgment granting the application or referring it to the Court, as the case may be;
  • ii. the indictment;
  • iii. the questionnaire concerning the appeal from a sentence, available in the office of the Court or on the Court’s website, duly completed.
• Schedule 3 :
  • i. the depositions from the sentencing hearing and the exhibits, if any;
  • ii. any other relevant remarks of the trial judge and the parties made in the course of submissions as to the sentence.

* See: Model in Criminal Matters — Appellant’s Memorandum; Model in Criminal Matters — Respondent’s Memorandum

Notification/Filing

You must file five paper copies of your brief or memorandum and notify it to the other parties either by delivering one paper copy thereof or by notifying it solely by technological means, if the other parties have so consented, the whole within the time limits set out below.

You must also file proof of notification of your brief or memorandum to the other parties within three working days after its filing.

Notification and filing time limit

Appelant party

Within 60 days of the date of the notice provided for in s. 32 R.C.A.Q.C.M. This notice is sent to the office of the Court of Appeal and to the parties by the clerk of the trial court once the appeal file is complete, namely, once the copy of the exhibits and the transcripts are ready. The appellant can then take immediate possession thereof.

If you have retained the services of a private stenographer, you must inform the other parties, the office of the Court of Appeal and the clerk of the trial court once the transcripts are ready, so that the clerk of the trial court can then follow the procedure set out in s. 32.

Respondent party

Within 60 days from the filing of the appellant’s brief.

Other parties (impleaded parties or intervenors)

Within 90 days from the filing of the appellant’s brief.

The same time limits apply to a party’s memorandum, unless the Court, the judge or the clerk establishes different time limits.

You can apply to the clerk or a judge for an extension of the time limit, before its expiry, by notifying to the other parties and filing with the Court office an application for the extension of the time limit for filing a brief or memorandum.

If you fail to file your brief or memorandum with a proof of notification within the stipulated time limits, the Court may, of its own initiative or by application, dismiss the appeal in accordance with the procedure set out in s. 80 R.C.A.Q.C.M.

Digital Office of the Court of Appeal (DOCA)

Using DOCA, you must transmit the PDF file of your brief or memorandum within five working days after the paper version is filed.

Exemption: Self-represented parties who are detained or hospitalized are not required to transmit the PDF file of the book of authorities, pleadings, briefs, memoranda or any other document they file on paper.

Guide to best practices

1. Be concise when writing your brief or memorandum.
2. Verify that your brief or memorandum satisfies all the requirements mentioned in the checklist available on the Court’s website and at the Court office.
3. To reduce the risk of errors, use the model pleadings in Word format prepared by the Court and made available on the Court’s website.

Avoid these frequent reasons for refusal

• The brief exceeds the 30-page maximum (or the maximum set by order of the judge or the Court).
• The memorandum exceeds the maximum number of pages permitted.

If the clerk finds that the case is not progressing in accordance with the Rules of the Court of Appeal of Quebec in Criminal Matters, he or she may place the case on a special roll.

In such a case, the clerk will send you a 30-day prior written notice by registered mail.

If the clerk’s instructions or the Rules of the Court of Appeal of Quebec in Criminal Matters have not been complied with or if the appeal is not ready to be placed on the roll on the date mentioned in the notice, the Court, after providing the parties an opportunity to be heard, may: (i) declare the appeal abandoned; (ii) declare the appeal ready to be placed on the roll; or (iii) declare that the respondent is foreclosed from pleading.

If the party in default can show valid cause, the Court will make the order it deems appropriate.