Coming In From The Cold: Deferred Prosecution (Remediation) Agreements In Canada

Co-authored by Justice Todd Archibald*

We have to live without sympathy, don't we? We can't do that forever. One can't stay out of doors all the time. One needs to come in from the cold.¹

Deferred Prosecution agreements have arrived in Canada under the form of "Remediation Agreements".² The availability of Remediation Agreements will be a "game changer" in creating incentives for corporations to conduct internal investigations and to self-report. The incentive held out by the prospect of these agreements is the absence of a conviction against corporations for serious Criminal Code offences such as foreign corruption, bribery, fraud, and insider trading.

An important objective of remediation agreements is "to encourage voluntary disclosure of the wrongdoing".³ Organizations are encouraged to voluntarily come in from the zone of non-discovery: this is a zone where the government may never find out about serious criminal activity by corporate organizations in the