British Columbia Crown Prosecution Authority

The British Columbia Crown Prosecution Authority is the public prosecution service of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is responsible for charging alleged criminal offenders before British Columbia courts, on behalf of the Government of British Columbia. Although Canada is a republic, the term "crown" or "crown counsel" is used as it dates to the period when the country was still a monarchy under the British crown. It is led by the Crown Attorney of BC, who prosecutes cases him/herself before the court or delegates this role to one of his/her multiple Deputy Crown Attorneys. Some of the most important cases involve the Attorney General of BC himself as prosecutor, with the Crown Attorney of BC acting as deputy and/or counsel to the Attorney General in such cases. By and large, however, it is the Crown Attorney of BC and the Deputy Crown Attorneys who handle the vast majority of provincial prosecutions.