Canada Elections Act

Marginal note:Chief Electoral Officer to retain election documents

• 540 (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall retain in his or her possession the election documents sent to him or her by a returning officer, with the return of the writ, for at least one year if the election is not contested during that time and, if the election is contested, for one year after the end of the contestation.

• Marginal note:Documents relating to Register of Electors

  (2) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, for at least two years after receiving them, retain in his or her possession, on film or in electronic form, all documents that relate to the updating of the Register of Electors.

• Marginal note:Inspection of documents

  (3) No election documents, or documents that relate to the establishment or updating of the Register of Electors, that are retained in the custody of the Chief Electoral Officer under subsection (1) or (2) shall, during the period of their retention, be inspected or produced except under an order of a judge of a superior court, which, if made, the Chief Electoral Officer shall obey.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (4) Subsection (3) does not prohibit the Chief Electoral Officer or any authorized member of his or her staff from inspecting the documents referred to in that subsection.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (4.1) The Chief Electoral Officer may also disclose any of the documents referred to in subsection (3) to the Commissioner for the purposes of the exercise or performance of the Commissioner’s powers, duties and functions under this Act and the Commissioner may, in turn, disclose any of those documents to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who may produce them for the purpose of a prosecution — or possible prosecution — by the Director for an offence under this Act.

• Marginal note:Election documents or papers admissible in evidence when certified

  (5) When a judge of a superior court has ordered the production of election documents, the Chief Electoral Officer need not, unless the judge orders otherwise, appear personally to produce them but shall certify the documents and send them by courier to the clerk or registrar of the court, who shall, when the documents have served the purposes of the judge, return them by courier to the Chief Electoral Officer.

• Marginal note:Certified documents

  (6) Documents purporting to be certified by the Chief Electoral Officer are admissible in evidence without further proof.

• Marginal note:Filmed or electronic evidence

  (7) In any proceedings under this Act, a print that is made from a photographic film or from a document in electronic form made by the Chief Electoral Officer for the purpose of keeping a permanent record of a document, and certified by the Chief Electoral Officer or by a person acting in the name of or under the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer, is admissible in evidence for all purposes for which the recorded document would be admitted as evidence, without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed the certificate.

• Marginal note:Order of Court

  (8) A judge may make an order under subsection (3) on being satisfied by evidence on oath that the inspection or production of a document referred to in that subsection is required for the purpose of instituting or maintaining a prosecution for an offence in relation to an election or for the purpose of an application under subsection 524(1).

• Marginal note:Conditions of inspections

  (9) An order for the inspection or production of election documents or documents that relate to the updating of the Register of Electors may be made subject to any conditions with respect to persons, time, place and mode of inspection or production that the judge considers appropriate.