How do I lay a private information using Form 2?
If someone hurts you – or you are afraid they may hurt you, your family, or your property, you have a few options to try to protect yourself through the BC court system.
- Report a crime to the police. If the police or the Crown counsel don’t agree with a charge, you can lay a private information;
- Apply for a peace bond against anyone by laying a private information; or
- Apply for a family law protection order against a family member.
NOTE: These options are used when you feel unsafe but are not in immediate danger. If you are in immediate danger, contact the police at 911.
Laying an information involves filling out a Form 2. In this guide, we’ll explain how this form is filled out if you want to press criminal charges.
Instead of pressing criminal charges, you may want to apply for a protection order (either a peace bond or a family law protection order), sometimes known as a restraining order. A protection order lists conditions that a person must follow that includes having limited or no contact with another person. See our common question "How do I apply for a peace bond or a family law protection order?"
Pressing criminal charges
Call the police to report a crime. If the police recommend a charge to the Crown, the Crown will decide whether to approve charges against the person.
If the police don’t recommend a charge, or the Crown decides not to lay charges, another option is to lay a private information, also called private prosecution. Be aware that this process may require a lot of time, money, and resources. In practice, laying a private information rarely results in a prosecution.
For more information on laying a private information, see Dial-a-Law's Charging Someone with a Criminal Offence (“Step 4. Laying a private information to charge the person yourself”).
Laying an information to press criminal charges
- Laying an information can be started by filling out Form 2, which is included in the Offence Act and the Criminal Code. Go to a courthouse and speak to a Court Services Justice of the Peace for further details. You can call the courthouse ahead of time in case there’s any other information you need to know.
- Before you fill in the information, review the Criminal Code and determine the appropriate charge or section.
- A laid information must use the format for a form of charge under the Criminal Code. You can find the Criminal Code in text form and the forms of charges in Martin’s Annual Criminal Code (Appendix A – subsection A2) at a Courthouse Libraries BC location during our open hours.
- A criminal charge and a peace bond cannot be made on the same document.
- If there are multiple alleged charges or misconducts, each should be in a separate count.
- All counts must include the name of the accused, the date that the offense occurred, and the location of the incident (town and province) as seen in the forms of charges.
Filling out a Form 2 to press criminal charges
The Form 2 document begins with:
This is the information of
_____________________________________________________________________________
(the “informant”)
Of _______________________________________________________________(occupation)
The informant says that he has reasonable and probable grounds to believe and does believe that _____________________________________________(form of charge)
Note: Form 2 may also be provided in French.
Here is an example using the form of charge ‘forcible entry’ from Martin’s Criminal Code Appendix A. Appendix A says:
72(1) Forcible Entry
A.B. on ......... at .......... did commit forcible entry on the real property of C.D. at [insert address] contrary to etc.
Filling this out with your own information would look something like this:
Donald Duckerton on May 24, 1926 at Discoville, British Columbia did commit forcible entry on the real property of Minnimus Mousecowitz at 742 Evergreen Terrace contrary to 72(1) of the Criminal Code.
Once you have filled this portion out, you will bring it to a Justice of the Peace to be sworn/affirmed.
If it is a serious charge, the justice of the peace will bring the Information to a judge. Crown counsel will look at the private information and decide whether to go ahead with the charges. They might bring the matter to the police, or they might stay the proceedings which means they will not do anything more with your information.
Helpful services
- Amici Curiae (AC) Friends of Court: Their volunteers can help with completing court forms. Book an appointment on their website.
- Courthouse Libraries BC: We are a network of libraries in BC courthouses where you can access public computers, books and other print materials, and legal databases. Reach us at 1-800-665-2570 or email librarian@courthouselibrary.ca.
- VictimLinkBC: Provides information and referral services to all victims of crime. It can be accessed by calling or texting 1-800-563-0808 or sending an email to 211-VictimLinkBC@uwbc.ca.
- Find more services.