If you have no convictions and the form asks if you have ever been convicted then the answer you can give is no.
Remember - the principle of the criminal justice system in Canada is that you are innocent until proven guilty. A charge being proffered is not a conviction - it is an accusation. The trial itself is not a conviction. The verdict can be a conviction, or it can be an acquittal. If you are acquitted, you are not guilty. If charges were dropped or withdrawn, you are not guilty.
If the form asks if you have been found guilty ('convicted') and you have never been found guilty, then you can answer no.
If the form asks "have you ever been charged?" then you must say yes. The form does not say that, because the interest of CIC is if you are a convicted criminal inside the grace period. You are not.
Do not provide more information to CIC than they ask. Do not err on the side "of being honest" if you have never been convicted.
