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Deciphering the Code: The Anatomy of an Ontario Court of Justice File Number

January 23, 2026 posted by Steve Brownstein

In the world of international record retrieval, "close enough" is a compliance failure. To truly vet a candidate in Canada’s most populous province, you have to look past the name and into the metadata of the file number. In the Ontario Court of Justice (OCJ), a file number isn't just a random string—it’s a roadmap of the case history.

Take, for example, the format: 1234-998-92-45678-02.

Here is what those five sections are actually telling you:

1. The Origin (Court Location): The first four digits identify the courthouse. In Ontario, 484 locations are condensed into these codes (e.g., 0411 for Ottawa, 2111 for St. Catharines). If your researcher doesn’t know the code, they don’t know where the record lives.

2. The Severity (Classification): This is the "make or break" for background screeners.

   • 998: Indicates a Federal Criminal Code matter.

   • 999: Indicates a Provincial Offences Act (POA) matter (e.g., traffic violations or noise by-laws).

3. The Vintage (Year of Filing): A two-digit code representing when the information was laid.

4. The Identity (Unique Sequence): A specific, sequential number assigned to that case at that location for that year.

5. The Roster (Accused Sequence): The final two digits reveal if your subject was acting alone. "01" is the primary accused, while "02" or higher indicates co-accused individuals.

The Bottom Line: If your provider can’t explain the difference between a 998 and a 999, they are likely handing you traffic tickets and calling them criminal records—or worse, missing the criminal records entirely.