A Surety is someone who agrees to supervise an accused person while they’re released into the community on bail waiting for their criminal matter to be resolved in court. Usually, this is a friend or relative.
It is against the law to accept payment for being a surety.
Before you will be allowed to act as a surety, you must:
- Be over the age of 18,
- Be a Canadian citizen or a landed immigrant, and
- Not be involved in the offence the person has been charged withIn most cases, you should not act as a surety for more than one person at a time. Ideally, you should not have a criminal record.
As a surety, you have 3 responsibilities:
- Make sure the accused person goes to court when required.
- Make sure the accused person follows the bail conditions.
- Call the police if the person doesn’t follow any of the bail conditions