In Alberta, disclosure in most provincial criminal prosecutions is managed by the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service. Police provide investigative material to Crown prosecutors, who review it and provide relevant disclosure to the accused or defence counsel.
Under R. v. Stinchcombe, Crown prosecutors must disclose relevant information within the Crown’s possession or control, whether it supports the prosecution or assists the defence, except privileged or legally protected material. This obligation continues throughout the prosecution. Under R. v. McNeil, police must notify Crown prosecutors of serious misconduct involving officers where it relates to the investigation or could affect an officer’s credibility or reliability. Crown prosecutors determine what must be disclosed; the defence is not automatically entitled to an officer’s complete employment or disciplinary history.
Disclosure is ordinarily requested from the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service office handling the charge rather than directly from police. Alberta also provides electronic disclosure processes, while federal prosecutions are handled separately by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
