Peace Bonds in Ontario: How a Section 810 Peace Bond Works

By Robb MacDonald · Updated 3 November 2026

A peace bond is a court order under section 810 of the Criminal Code to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for up to 12 months, usually with conditions such as no contact with a named person. It is not a criminal conviction and requires no guilty plea, but breaching it is a separate offence carrying up to four years.

What is a peace bond?

Its formal name is a recognizance to keep the peace. Under section 810, anyone who fears on reasonable grounds that another person will cause personal injury to them, their intimate partner or their child, or will damage their property, can lay an information before a justice. So can someone acting on their behalf. The section also covers a fear that the other person will share intimate images of them without consent, an offence under section 162.1.

If the justice is satisfied by the evidence that the person has reasonable grounds for the fear, the justice can order the defendant to enter into a recognizance, with or without sureties, to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for up to 12 months. A peace bond looks forward. It is aimed at preventing harm, not punishing something that has already happened, which is why it carries no finding of guilt.

How does a peace bond resolve a criminal charge?

Most people meet a peace bond as an offer from the Crown. On a charge such as assault, uttering threats, criminal harassment or mischief, the Crown may agree to withdraw the charge if the accused enters into a peace bond. There is no guilty plea and no finding of guilt. The accused consents to the order, usually on the basis that the complainant has reasonable grounds for their fear, without admitting the allegation.

Whether a peace bond is on offer depends on the allegation, the strength of the evidence, any injuries, the complainant's views and the accused's record. In intimate partner cases, Ontario Crowns usually proceed with the charge and will not withdraw it only because the complainant asks, but a peace bond is still a possible resolution.

A withdrawal on a peace bond is not an acquittal. The charge ends without a verdict either way.

Our Toronto criminal harassment lawyer page explains how harassment charges are resolved and defended.

Can someone get a peace bond without a criminal charge?

Yes. A person does not need the police to lay a charge. They can go to the courthouse and lay an information before a justice of the peace, and the justice then has the parties brought before the court (s. 810(2)). If the defendant does not consent, there is a hearing. The person who laid the information has to satisfy the court, through evidence, that their fear is based on reasonable grounds, and the defendant can contest it, cross-examine and call evidence. If the court is not satisfied, the application is dismissed.

Being the subject of an application is worth taking seriously. If the court orders a peace bond after a hearing and the defendant refuses to enter into it, the court can send them to jail for up to 12 months (s. 810(3.01)).

What conditions can a peace bond include?

Every peace bond requires the person to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. Beyond that, the court can add any reasonable conditions it considers desirable, and section 810 requires it to consider two kinds in particular:

• Weapons. The court must consider prohibiting firearms, cross-bows, prohibited and restricted weapons, ammunition and explosives (s. 810(3.1)). If it adds the condition, it must say how they are to be surrendered. If it does not, it must give reasons.
• Contact and places. The court must consider forbidding communication with the person, their intimate partner or their child, and forbidding the defendant from being at, or within a set distance of, places where they are regularly found (s. 810(3.2)).

Other conditions can include abstaining from alcohol or drugs, with testing. In practice, the usual terms are no contact directly or indirectly, which covers social media and messages passed through friends, and staying away from the person's home, work or school. Either side can apply later to vary the conditions (s. 810(4.1)).

If you share children with the person, the wording matters. A no-contact condition can be drafted to allow contact through a family court order or a named third party, and that is much easier to get right before signing than to fix afterwards.

What other kinds of peace bond are there?

Section 810 is the general peace bond. The Criminal Code has several others aimed at specific fears. These are the ones most relevant to people charged in Toronto:

Criminal Code ss. 810, 810.03 and 810.2. Others cover a fear of a criminal organization offence or intimidation of a justice system participant (s. 810.01), a terrorism offence (s. 810.011), a forced marriage or marriage under 16 (s. 810.02) and certain sexual offences (s. 810.1). Checked against laws-lois on 3 November 2026.

The domestic violence peace bond under section 810.03 allows conditions the general one does not list, including attending a domestic violence counselling program, wearing an electronic monitoring device with the Attorney General's consent, and having no contact with the partner's relatives and close friends.

Is a peace bond a criminal record?

No. A peace bond is not a conviction and involves no plea or finding of guilt. Whether it shows up on a police record check in Ontario depends on the kind of check and how the peace bond came about. Under the Police Record Checks Reform Act, 2015:

• A criminal record check, the most basic kind, does not disclose court orders at all.
• A criminal record and judicial matters check and a vulnerable sector check disclose court orders, but not court orders made in relation to a charge that was withdrawn.

So a peace bond entered as part of a withdrawn charge should not appear on any of the three standard Ontario checks. A peace bond made on an application with no charge behind it can appear on the two more detailed ones. A vulnerable sector check can also disclose non-conviction information in narrow exceptional cases.

Police databases still record the order and the withdrawn charge. Checks done outside that Act, and decisions by other countries' border officials, follow their own rules. Inadmissibility for criminality under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act turns on convictions, so a peace bond is not one, but anyone who is not a Canadian citizen should get immigration advice before agreeing to any resolution.

What happens if you breach a peace bond?

Breaching a peace bond is a criminal offence under section 811. It is hybrid, with a maximum of four years if the Crown proceeds by indictment. Unlike the peace bond itself, a conviction for the breach is a criminal record. Two other consequences are easy to miss:

• Harassment while bound. If a person is convicted of criminal harassment committed while they were on a peace bond, the court must consider the breach as an aggravating factor (s. 264(4)).
• Bail on a later partner charge. If the peace bond was taken out on behalf of an intimate partner, a new charge of violence against a partner while it is in force puts the onus on the accused at bail (s. 515(6)(b.1)). Since 15 July 2026 that means clearly demonstrating that the release plan addresses the risks.

Accidental contact is the most common way people get into trouble: a reply to a message, a shared friend passing something on, turning up at the same event. Read the conditions closely and ask about anything that is unclear before you sign.

Should you agree to a peace bond?

It depends on what the alternative is. A peace bond gives certainty: the charge is withdrawn, there is no conviction, and the order ends after a set time. Against that are 12 months of conditions, the risk of a breach charge, and the fact that a trial might have ended in an acquittal. The questions that usually decide it are:

• how strong the Crown's evidence is, once the disclosure has been reviewed;
• whether the conditions are workable, given a shared home, children, a workplace or a social circle;
• whether a weapons condition would affect a firearms licence or a job;
• immigration status, and any job or volunteer role that needs a police check; and
• whether a family court case is running alongside the criminal one.

For the assault charges where peace bonds come up most, our assault page sets out the other outcomes.

Where the complainant is a partner, the domestic assault page explains how those cases are handled in Toronto.

Getting advice before you sign

Robb MacDonald has practised criminal defence for more than twenty years and has negotiated peace bond resolutions in assault, threats and harassment cases across the Greater Toronto Area. He earned his J.D. at Queen's University in 2006, was called to the Ontario bar in 2007, and trained under Edward Greenspan QC. Every Ontario lawyer is regulated by the Law Society of Ontario.

If you have been offered a peace bond, or someone has applied for one against you, call (416) 315-1505 or email rm@lawintoronto.com. The office is at 130 Spadina Ave. #606, Toronto, ON M5V 2L4, and Robb answers day and night. You can also request a confidential consultation.

This article describes the law as of 3 November 2026. It is general information, not legal advice for a particular case.