Trials

Le privilège relatif aux conjoints, la doctrine juridique qui interdit à un conjoint de témoigner contre son partenaire, remonte au 19e siècle. Ce «privilège» existait en common law et a été codifié...

In 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Jordan completely changed the landscape of s.11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which holds that any person who is charged with an offence has the right to be tried within a reasonable time. The SCC set out a new...

As most people - within the criminal justice system or not - are aware, one of the cornerstones of our system is that an individual is presumed innocent unless their guilt has been established beyond a reasonable doubt. But what may be less clear for most people is,...

On September 19, 2019, the Criminal Code was amended by Bill C-75 which made several changes, including changes to how juries should be constituted. The changes to jury selection were that peremptory challenges no longer exist; and that the decision on challenges for...

Genetic genealogy is a tool that has people uploading their DNA to databases so that they can find long lost relatives and make new connections. What has been making the news more recently is the fact that some public databases cooperate with law enforcement agencies...

After you have been arrested you will receive a date to appear in court.  The first thing that will happen is that you will receive a copy of the "disclosure".  This is all of the evidence that the police have gathered against you.  Once you have...

If you have been charged with a criminal offence, the Criminal Code of Canada allows you to proceed to trial in the official language of your choice (s. 530(1)). This right guarantees an accused person the right to have a trial in the French language or the English...

Last week, the Ontario of Appeal heard the appeal of the Christy Natsis case. You may recall the Natsis trial a few years ago: a Pembroke dentist who was charged with impaired driving and driving with over 80 milligrams of alcohol in her system. Ultimately, after 55...

The use of social media is essentially ubiquitous with living in the today's society - everyone does it in one form or another. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn, or any of the multitude of texting apps, it is like you use some form of...

You are charged with a criminal offence, such as a domestic assault. You are released from the police station, given a date to appear in court and told that if you fail to appear in court, you could be subject to a bench warrant. But really what you are not told is...