Bylawpedia

Ticket

Author: Michael Tillmann

Published: February 24, 2024

Last updated: March 28, 2024

Ticketing is one of the most common methods of bylaw enforcement found in Canada. The laws on ticketing will vary according to the province or territory one is in.

In British Columbia, there are three types of tickets available for enforcing local government bylaws, those being the municipal ticket information (MTI), the bylaw notice and the notice of bylaw infraction (B.C. Reg. 425/2003, Form B.3; Government of British Columbia, 2022; Government of British Columbia, 2023). All three forms of ticket allow for monetary penalties to be levied, although the notice of bylaw infraction only allows for voluntary penalties rather than mandatory ones. Actually, the notice of bylaw infraction is of such an unusual nature that it could be argued it is not a true ticket, but it does fit the definition of a ticket as found in dictionaries and the average person would probably refer to it as a ticket[1][2], so this website does as well (see notice of bylaw infraction for more information).

One major difference between the bylaw notice and the municipal ticket information is the type of legal hearings that people who dispute the tickets receive. If a person issued an MTI wishes to dispute the ticket, the person is entitled to a trial in the traditional court system where the prosecutor must prove the person's guilt beyond reasonable doubt, which is the traditional standard of proof used in criminal trials, or else the person will be found not guilty. In contrast, if a person issued a bylaw notice wishes to dispute it, the person is not entitled to a trial in a traditional court but instead has the right to a quasi-judicial hearing before an official called an adjudicator; and the local government accusing the person of a bylaw violation does not have to prove the allegation beyond reasonable doubt, but only on the balance of probabilities, which is the standard used in civil trials (Howieson, 2008, pp. 11-12).

Another important difference between a MTI and a bylaw notice is that maximum amount of the fine that can be imposed with each. Provincial law stipulates that the fine imposed by a municipal ticket information cannot exceed $3000; or $1000 if the ticket is issued to a person under 18 (Government of British Columbia, 2023). A penalty imposed by a bylaw notice cannot be greater than $500 (Government of British Columbia, 2022).

Bylaw notices are sometimes referred to by alternate names in some communities. For example, the City of Coquitlam and the City of Surrey both refer to a bylaw notice as a bylaw enforcement notice or BEN (City of Coquitlam, n.d.; City of Surrey, n.d.), while the City of Kelowna calls a bylaw notice a bylaw offence notice (City of Kelowna, n.d.) and the Islands Trust refers to one as a bylaw violation notice or BVN (Islands Trust, n.d.). Despite the different terms used, they are all referring to the same type of ticket, which is referred to in provincial legislation as a bylaw notice (Local Government Bylaw Notice Enforcement Act, 2003).

It may be argued by some that the bylaw notice is not an actual ticket, since it does not use the word 'ticket' in its name, but if one looks to the dictionary definitions for the word 'ticket', a bylaw notice would likely qualify[1][2]. In addition, multiple local governments refer to bylaw notices as tickets on their own websites (City of Coquitlam, n.d.; Township of Langley, n.d.). For these reasons, when the word 'ticket' is used on this website, it can be presumed to include a bylaw notice.

END NOTES:

[1] The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines a ticket as having multiple different meanings, including "a summons or warning issued to a traffic-law violator" (Merriam-Webster, n.d.). It does not mention bylaw violations or any type of law violation other than a traffic law, but it can be implied from the context that the term is applicable to other law violations.

[2] The Wordnik online dictionary also has a list of multiple meanings for the word 'ticket', one of those being: "A legal notice to a person charged with a violation of law, especially a minor violation" (Wordnik, n.d.).

REFERENCES:

B.C. Reg. 425/2003. https://canlii.ca/t/565tj

City of Coquitlam. (n.d.). Bylaw enforcement notices, dispute & adjudication. City of Coquitlam. Retrieved February 24, 2024 from https://www.coquitlam.ca/555/Bylaw-Enforcement-Notices-Dispute-Adjudi

City of Kelowna. (n.d.). Disputing bylaw offence notices. City of Kelowna. Retrieved February 24, 2024 from https://www.kelowna.ca/city-hall/bylaws/bylaw-services/disputing-bylaw-offence-notices

City of Surrey. (n.d.). Bylaw enforcement notice (BEN). City of Surrey. Retrieved February 24, 2024 from https://www.surrey.ca/city-government/bylaws/bylaw-enforcement-notice-ben

Government of British Columbia. (2022, December 7). Local government bylaw notices. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/bylaws/bylaw-enforcement/bylaw-notices

Government of British Columbia. (2023, December 7). Municipal Ticketing. Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/governments/local-governments/governance-powers/bylaws/bylaw-enforcement/municipal-ticketing

Howieson, D. (2008, November 28). Investigating and Enforcing Bylaws [Seminar Paper]. Young, Anderson Barristers & Solicitors. https://www.younganderson.ca/images/seminar_blogs/Investigating_and_Enforcing_Bylaws.pdf

Islands Trust. (n.d.). Bylaw Enforcement Notice and Dispute Adjudication. Islands Trust. Retrieved February 24, 2024 from https://islandstrust.bc.ca/island-planning/general-resources/bylaw-compliance-and-enforcement/bylaw-enforcement-notice-and-dispute-adjudication/

Local Government Bylaw Notice Enforcement Act, SBC 2003, c. 60. https://canlii.ca/t/jjk1

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ticket. In Merrian-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 24, 2024 from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ticket

Township of Langley. (n.d.). Pay a Bylaw Notice. Township of Langley. Retrieved February 24, 2024 from https://www.tol.ca/en/services/pay-a-bylaw-notice.aspx

Wordnik. (n.d.) Ticket. In Wordnik dictionary. Retrieved February 24, 2024 from https://www.wordnik.com/words/ticket