Summary

Keywords

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Summary

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Charter (criminal) – Criminal law – Constitutional law – Right to trial by jury – Election of procedure for prosecution – Validity of rules under which only Crown can decide on procedure (summary conviction or indictment) for prosecuting offences – Validity of rules under which trial by jury is reserved for indictable offences and is not available for summary conviction offences – Whether, in administration of justice in Canada, there is discrimination against fathers in marital breakdown situations – Whether administration of justice contrary to spirit of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Whether applicant is being persecuted by judicial system.

Leroux is being prosecuted by way of summary conviction for mischief, conspiracy and obstructing a peace officer. Concerned that, in his view, judges are biassed against the cause he champions (that of fathers in marital breakdown situations), Leroux asks that his case be transferred so that his trial can proceed before a judge and jury. He contests the Crown’s right to elect to proceed by way of summary conviction, because this would deprive him of a trial by jury.

Lower Court Rulings