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Part II .

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Domestic Violence Intervention Regulations

made under

Section 21 of the

Domestic Violence Intervention Act

S.N.S. 2001, c. 29

O.I.C. 2003-135 (effective April 1, 2003), N.S. Reg. 75/2003

Table of Contents

Please note: this table of contents is provided for convenience of reference and does not form part of the regulations.

Click here to go to the text of the regulations .

Citation

Interpretation

Designated persons

Application for an emergency protection order

Conduct of the hearing of an application

Record to be made of evidence

Inability of justice to continue

Completion and service of an emergency protection order

Substituted service

Dispensing with service

Service of an order that has been varied

Copy of order sufficient notice

Forwarding of documentation

Time period for review by judge

Maintenance and destruction of tape recording

Summons

Notice of hearing

Citation

1 These regulations may be cited as the Domestic Violence Intervention Regulations .

Interpretation

(1) In these regulations

(a) “Act” means the Domestic Violence Intervention Act ;

(b) “application” means an application for an emergency protection order, unless

the context otherwise requires, and “applicant” has a corresponding meaning;

(c) “designated person” means a member of a class of persons designated in

Section 3;

(d) “emergency protection order” means an order made by a justice pursuant to

Section 6 of the Act;

(e) “justice” means a designated justice of the peace;

(f) “Law Courts” means the court located at 1815 Upper Water Street, Halifax,

Nova Scotia;

(g) “peace officer” means a police officer appointed under the Police Act or the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (Canada);

(h) “telecommunication” means any transmission, emission or reception of signs,

signals, writing, images, sounds or intelligence of any nature by a wire, radio,

visual or electromagnetic system and includes communication by telephone;

(i) “transition house” means a member agency of the Transition House

Association of Nova Scotia.

(2) For the purposes of clause 6(1)(

b) of the Act, “forthwith” means without waiting

for the appropriate relief from the Provincial, Family or Supreme Court.

Designated persons

3 The following classes of persons are designated for the purposes of clause 7(1)(

b) of the

Act:

(

a) peace officers;

(

b) senior victim services officers, victim services officers and victim services

support workers employed by the Policing and Victim Services Division of

the Nova Scotia Department of Justice;

(

c) victim services officers employed by a municipal police department or the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police; and

(

d) the executive director of a transition house or employees of the transition

house designated by the executive director.

Application for an emergency protection order

(1) An application by a victim or by a person acting on behalf of a victim with leave of

a justice may be made only between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm.

(2) An application may be made at any time by a designated person.

(3) An application must be made by telephone.

(4) A justice must record on tape an application made by telephone.

(5) Upon receipt of an application, a justice must complete an Emergency Protection

Order Application Checklist in Form A.

Conduct of the hearing of an application

(1) A justice who

(

a) is satisfied that a person is permitted to make an application pursuant to clause

7(1)(

a) or (

b) of the Act, or grants leave to a person to make an application

pursuant to clause 7(1)(

c) of the Act; and

(

b) determines that the criteria in subsection 6(1) of the Act have been met

must hear and consider, in addition to the matters required by subsection 6(2) of the

Act to be considered, the allegation of the applicant and, if there are witnesses, the

evidence of the witnesses.

(2) The hearing of an application must be concluded within 24 hours of the application

being made.

(3) Subject to subsection (2), the justice conducting the hearing may

(

a) adjourn the hearing from time to time; and

(

b) conduct the hearing in any manner that the justice considers appropriate and

that is not inconsistent with the Act or these regulations.

Record to be made of evidence

(1) At the hearing of an application, a justice must

(

a) take the evidence under oath or affirmation pursuant to the Evidence Act ; and

(

b) ensure that the evidence of each person is recorded.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1),

(

a) an oath or affirmation must be administered by telecommunication; and

(

b) an inquiry pursuant to the Evidence Act must be made by telecommunication.

Inability of justice to continue

7 If a justice begins to hear an application and is unable to continue the hearing for any

reason, another justice may

(

a) if the evidence recorded by the previous justice pursuant to clause 6(1)(

b) is

available for review by the Justice, continue the application; or

(

b) if the evidence recorded by the previous justice pursuant to clause 6(1)(

b) is

not available for review by the justice, begin hearing the application as if no

evidence had been taken.

Completion and service of an emergency protection order

8 An emergency protection order must be in Form B.

(1) Upon making an emergency protection order, a Justice must either

(

a) provide a peace officer with a copy of the order by forwarding it to the

municipal police department or detachment of the Royal Canadian Mounted

Police closest to the last known address of the respondent by

(

i) personal delivery,

(ii) courier delivery, or

(iii) telecommunication that produces a written record; or

(

b) direct the peace officer to complete a copy of the order with the same

information and provisions that are contained in the original.

(2) A copy of an emergency protection order completed by a peace officer pursuant to

clause (1)(

b) has the same effect as the original of the order completed by the Justice.

(3) Upon receipt or completion of copies of an emergency protection order pursuant to

clause (1)(

a) or (b), a peace officer must

(

a) provide 1 copy to the victim named in the order;

(

b) serve 1 copy on the respondent named in the order; and

(

c) provide 1 copy to the Prothonotary of the Law Courts together with an affidavit

of service in Form C.

(4) The copy of the emergency protection order and affidavit of service referred to in

clause (3)(

c) must be forwarded to the Prothonotary of the Law Courts by personal

delivery or courier delivery.

Substituted service

(1) If it is impracticable for any reason for a peace officer to personally serve a

respondent with an emergency protection order, the peace officer may effect

substituted service of the emergency protection order.

(2) Substituted service of an emergency protection order may be effected by serving it

on a person who appears to be an adult who

(

a) resides with the respondent;

(

b) is a member of the respondent's family; or

(

c) is able to bring the order to the respondent's attention.

Dispensing with service

(1) An application by a peace officer in accordance with subsection 10(2) of the Act for

an order dispensing with service of an emergency protection order must be

supported by evidence setting out the peace officer's attempts at personal service or

substituted service.

(2) An order dispensing with service of an emergency protection order must be in Form

(3) Upon making an order dispensing with service, a justice must forward the order and

documentation of the evidence referred to in subsection (1), including, if applicable,

tape recordings as referred to in subsection (2), to the Prothonotary of the Law

Courts.

Service of an order that has been varied

12 An emergency protection order that is varied pursuant to subsection 11(2), 11(7) or 12(1)

of the Act must be served on each of the victim and respondent named in the order, unless

the victim or respondent is present in court,

(

a) personally by a peace officer; or

(

b) if personal service on either party is impracticable for any reason, in any other

manner ordered by the court.

Copy of order sufficient notice

13 A respondent is bound by the provisions in an emergency protection order as soon as he or

she receives a copy of the order, whether or not it was personally served by a peace

officer.

Forwarding of documentation

(1) Documentation forwarded by a justice to the court pursuant to subsection 11(1) of

the Act must be forwarded by

(

a) personal delivery;

(

b) courier delivery; or

(

c) telecommunication that produces a written record.

(2) If, after considering an application, a justice decides not to make an emergency

protection order, the justice must forward the Emergency Protection Order

Application Checklist in respect of the application and all supporting documentation,

including a transcript or tape recording, to the Prothonotary of the Law Courts by any

of the methods specified in subsection (1).

Time period for review by judge

15 For the purpose of subsection 11(2) of the Act, the time period within which a judge must

review an emergency protection order is 7 business days following receipt of the

emergency protection order and all supporting documentation.

Maintenance and destruction of tape recording

(1) The Prothonotary of the Law Courts must retain the tape recording of an application

heard by a justice for at least 2 years following the hearing date.

(2) A tape recording maintained pursuant to subsection (1) must be destroyed at the end

of the retention period in accordance with the applicable guidelines for destruction of

court tape recordings.

Summons

(1) A summons issued pursuant to clause 11(4)(

a) of the Act for a hearing before a

judge must be in Form E.

(2) A summons must be served on the respondent personally by a peace officer.

(3) If the emergency protection order that is the subject of a hearing by a judge was

served on the respondent by substituted service pursuant to

Section 10, the summons

may be served by substituted service, unless the judge orders otherwise.

(4) If the emergency protection order that is the subject of a hearing by a judge was not

served on the respondent by substituted service and a peace officer is unable to

personally serve the respondent before the return date of the summons, the judge

may make any order regarding service that the judge considers appropriate.

(5) Service of a summons in accordance with subsection (3) or pursuant to an order

made by a judge pursuant to subsection (4) is deemed to be personal service on the

respondent.

Notice of hearing

18 Notice of a hearing before a judge directed pursuant to subsection 11(3) of the Act must be

given to the victim in Form F.

[The forms to these regulations are not available in this format. Please click here to view PDF copies of the forms as filed with the Registry of Regulations.]

Legislative History

Reference Tables

Domestic Violence Intervention Regulations

N.S. Reg.

75/2003

Domestic Violence Intervention Act

Note: The

information in these tables does not form part of the regulations and is

compiled by the Office of the Registrar of Regulations for reference only.

Source Law

The current consolidation of the Domestic Violence Intervention Regulations made

under the Domestic Violence Intervention Act includes all of the following regulations:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

75/2003

Apr 1, 2003

date specified

Apr 18, 2003

The following regulations are not yet in force and are

not included in the current consolidation:

N.S.

Regulation

In force

date*

How in force

Royal Gazette

Part II Issue

*See subsection 3(6) of the Regulations Act for

rules about in force dates of regulations.

Amendments by Provision

ad. = added

am. = amended

fc. = fee change

ra. = reassigned

rep. = repealed

rs . = repealed and substituted

Provision affected

How affected

..........................................................

Note that changes to headings are not

included in the above table.

Editorial Notes and Corrections:

Note

Effective

date

Repealed and Superseded:

N.S.

Regulation

Title

In force

date

Repealed

date

Note: Only

regulations that are specifically repealed and replaced appear in this

table. It may not reflect the entire

history of regulations on this subject matter.