{"id":1143,"date":"2011-11-28T15:34:20","date_gmt":"2011-11-28T20:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ombudsmandemontreal.com\/?page_id=1143"},"modified":"2011-11-28T15:35:50","modified_gmt":"2011-11-28T20:35:50","slug":"application-for-a-subsidy-%e2%80%93-requirement-of-a-notarized-document-2007-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ombudsmandemontreal.com\/en\/cases-handled\/examples-of-charter-files\/communications-and-informations\/application-for-a-subsidy-%e2%80%93-requirement-of-a-notarized-document-2007-2","title":{"rendered":"Investigation procedure at Cour municipale de Montr\u00e9al (2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A citizen complained to the Ombudsman de Montr\u00e9al<\/span> as he was not satisfied with the quality of the \u201cinvestigation\u201d made by Cour municipale de Montr\u00e9al, following his not guilty plea. He submitted that, as a result, he had to go to court to submit his evidence once more, which lead to his acquittal from the parking offence he had been charged with.<\/p>\n

According to the citizen, the facts were clear and if the \u201cinvestigation\u201d done by Cour municipale de Montr\u00e9al had been thorough, he would not have had to waste his time to go to court.<\/p>\n

Our investigation revealed, however, that the procedure the citizen was referring to is not an \u201cinvestigation\u201d in the usual sense of the word, but only a basic administrative verification of the information already in the City\u2019s files. Such verification can lead to a recommendation to pursue or to drop the charge, but not to an acquittal: only the Court has that power.<\/p>\n

During the said \u201cverification\u201d, the court\u2019s employees must rely on the information found in the municipal records and they cannot verify whether or not the said information is complete or up-to date; they do not go on site nor do they interrogate any person.<\/p>\n

In the present case, the parking prohibition which the citizen had been accused of violating had recently been abolished but, unfortunately, this change had not yet been registered in the City\u2019s records. At the time of the internal \u201cinvestigation\u201d, therefore, the Cour municipale de Montr\u00e9al employee could not confirm if the information submitted by the citizen was true, which is why he recommended that the charges be maintained.<\/p>\n

The Ombudsman de Montr\u00e9al<\/span> made her intervention on the basis of section 16 a) of the Montr\u00e9al Charter of Rights and Responsibilities<\/i> in which the City commits to provide citizens useful and clearly formulated information.<\/p>\n

She made the Cour municipale de Montr\u00e9al aware of the confusion caused by use of the word \u201cinvestigation\u201d in their documents to the defendants. The Cour municipale de Montr\u00e9al accepted our comments and modified accordingly its documents.<\/p>\n