A jury summons is an order to attend court delivered, either in person or by mail, to anyone who has been randomly selected from the list which indicates that a person must appear at the courthouse on a specific date, time and location.

Receiving a jury summons does not mean you have been selected to serve as a juror.  The next step is to go to a jury selection where a screening process will determine the individuals selected as jurors for the trial.

When you receive a jury summons, you have a legal obligation to respond:

• For a criminal trial, you must respond to a summons within 10 days
• For a civil trial, you must respond within five days.

Your summons will indicate whether it’s a criminal or civil trial.

There are two ways to respond to a summons:

• Online: Use the Court Services eResponse website  – you will need to have your jury summons on hand to complete your online response.

• By mail: Complete the jury certification form attached to your jury summons and mail it using the envelope provided

Are you disqualified or exempt from being a juror?

The Jury Act allows for some people to be disqualified from serving as a juror.

It also allows for people to request to be exempted from jury service, based on certain circumstances.

When you respond to your summons, you can request an exemption or claim a disqualification if you think you meet the criteria.

Just because you request an exemption or disqualification, it may not be granted. Nunavut Sheriff’s Office, who manages the jury process in Nunavut, will review your request and make a decision.

If you are granted an exemption or are disqualified, you will not be required to serve as a juror and will not need to attend the jury selection process.

Who is disqualified?

Examples of people who are disqualified include:

• Individuals who are not Canadian citizens
• Those under the age of 18
• Those convicted with committing a crime that resulted in imprisonment for one year or more
• Individuals who are unable to speck and understand and official language of Nunavut

Exemptions:

Nunavut Sheriff’s Office may give an exemption for the following reasons:

• members of the Queen’s Privy Council or Canada or of the Senate or House of Commons of Canada;
• the Commissioner and members of the Legislative Assembly;
• members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police;
• judges of any court of record, justices of the peace and coroners;
• practising barristers and solicitors;
• members of the clergy of any denomination;
• salaried fire-fighters and active members of the fire brigade of a municipality;
• officers of the Court, including Sheriff’s officers, constables and bailiffs;
• officers appointed to enforce municipal by-laws;
• Officers and members of the Canadian Armed Forces;
• physicians, surgeons, dental surgeons and druggists in active practice;
• nurses in active practice;
• persons whose duties relate to the custody and confinement of prisoners;
• employees of the Department of Justice of the Government of the Nunavut Territories;
• Employees of the Department of Justice of the Government of Canada.

Deferrals:

Nunavut Sheriff’s Office may give a deferral for the following reasons:

• if you have health issues that will interfere with your role as a juror
• If you have firm travel due to medical reasons or as an escort
• if you would suffer serious hardship
• if you have firm travel or vacation plans that conflict with the jury selection or trial dates

For detailed information on exemption or disqualification criteria, review the package included in your jury summons.

Request an Exemption from being a Juror

An exemption needs to be requested well before jury selection begins, using one of the following methods:

• Online: Using the Court Services eResponse website . You will need to have your jury summons on hand to complete your online response.  Be sure to request that an email be sent to you when your exemption request has been processed.
• By mail: Complete the jury certification form attached to your jury summons and mail it using the envelope provided

Finding out if an exemption was approved:

If you responded to your summons in writing, a sheriff will make every reasonable effort to contact you within 10 working days from the date your request for exemption is received. If you do not receive notice that you are exempt, you must attend jury selection on the date and time indicated on your summons.

If you responded to your summons through the eResponse website, you can log in anytime and view the status of your request under the “profile” tab