Definition of hearsay

Hearsay is (1) an out of court statement (2) repeated in court (3) to prove its truth. A simple definition but one that proves problematic even today as shown by R. v. Dinardo, 2011 ONCA 256.

Statements adduced, not for their truth, but for some other reason, are not hearsay:

[11]         After argument about the admissibility of the utterances, the trial judge accepted the trial Crown's submissions that they were inadmissible on the basis that they were "pure" hearsay to which no exception applied. 

[12]         This was an error.  The statements were not hearsay.  The appellant was not trying to adduce the utterances for the truth of their contents, but simply to prove that Mr. Soares made the statements.  See Wildman v. The Queen (1984), 14 C.C.C. (3d) 321 (S.C.C.).