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A jury summons is an order to attend court delivered, either in person or by mail, to anyone who has been randomly selected from the list which indicates that a person must appear at the courthouse on a specific date, time and location.

Receiving a jury summons does not mean you have been selected to serve as a juror.  The next step is to go to a jury selection where a screening process will determine the individuals selected as jurors for the trial.

When you receive a jury summons, you have a legal obligation to respond:

Your summons will indicate whether it’s a criminal or civil trial.

There are two ways to respond to a summons:

Are you disqualified or exempt from being a juror?

The Jury Act allows for some people to be disqualified from serving as a juror.

It also allows for people to request to be exempted from jury service, based on certain circumstances.

When you respond to your summons, you can request an exemption or claim a disqualification if you think you meet the criteria.

Just because you request an exemption or disqualification, it may not be granted. Nunavut Sheriff’s Office, who manages the jury process in Nunavut, will review your request and make a decision.

If you are granted an exemption or are disqualified, you will not be required to serve as a juror and will not need to attend the jury selection process.

Who is disqualified?

Examples of people who are disqualified include:

Exemptions:

Nunavut Sheriff’s Office may give an exemption for the following reasons:

Deferrals:

Nunavut Sheriff’s Office may give a deferral for the following reasons:

For detailed information on exemption or disqualification criteria, review the package included in your jury summons.

Request an Exemption from being a Juror

An exemption needs to be requested well before jury selection begins, using one of the following methods:

Finding out if an exemption was approved:

If you responded to your summons in writing, a sheriff will make every reasonable effort to contact you within 10 working days from the date your request for exemption is received. If you do not receive notice that you are exempt, you must attend jury selection on the date and time indicated on your summons.

If you responded to your summons through the eResponse website, you can log in anytime and view the status of your request under the “profile” tab