Typically, there is not viva voce evidence. What happens is that the police generate a police report. The crown has that in a file, as well as the CPIC, and then the crown reads in the information that has been compiled by the police. That information is hearsay, but it is admissible because of paragraph 518(1)(e), just like the CPIC is. Typically, the CPIC is admitted because the accused knows what his record says or what it doesn't say and the hearing proceeds.
I will say this. I have personally seen situations where the record was not in front of the court. It's not just in the case law; I've seen it personally. What happens is that you have a crown who is busy. They have a hundred different files, they take a file apart, and part of it goes here and part of it goes there. They put it back together, they run down to court, and they leave the record upstairs.
Bill S-217 is required because it requires the crown to go upstairs, get the record, come back to the courtroom, and introduce the record. In the case of R. v. Brooks, that didn't happen.