Versions of s. 617(1)

Subject to subsection (2), whenever in the course of any legal proceeding instituted in Canada before any judge or provincial court judge, or before any person authorized by the law or by consent of parties to receive evidence, the testimony of any witness is required in relation to the subject-matter of that proceeding, on due proof that the witness cannot be found in Canada, any deposition that the witness may have previously made on oath in relation to the same subject-matter before any justice or magistrate in a Commonwealth country, or before any consular officer elsewhere, is admissible in evidence.