Summary

Keywords

Charter of Rights - Right to life, liberty and security of person - Arbitrary detention - Right to bail - Remedy - Appellant held for longer than 24 hours before he was taken before a Justice of the Peace contrary to s. 503(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, and a breach of his ss. 7, 9 and 11(e) Charter rights - Whether a stay of proceedings was the appropriate remedy for Charter breach - Whether the Court of Appeal erred in failing to adhere to its jurisdiction in a Crown appeal of the appellant’s stay of his criminal charges - Whether the Court of Appeal erred by misapplying the test in R v. Babos, 2014 SCC 16, [2014] 1 S.C.R. 309 by imposing a nonexistent obligation on the accused to establish a “systemic remedy” to go together with a stay of proceedings - Whether the Court of Appeal erred in applying the appropriate standard of review - Whether the Court of Appeal erred in overturning the trial judge’s remedy of a stay of proceedings - ss. 7, 9, 11(e), 24(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Summary

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The appellant was arrested on April 4, 2017 at 11:50 a.m. He was not brought before a justice for his bail hearing until April 5, 2017 at 10:59 p.m. The continuing detention of the appellant pending a bail hearing was governed by s. 503(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46 which requires a detained person to be taken before a justice within a period of 24 hours and “without unreasonable delay” when a justice is available and brought “as soon as possible” when a justice is not available. The Crown conceded that the appellant had been held for longer than 24 hours before he was taken before a justice contrary to s. 503(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, and that this was a breach of his ss. 7, 9 and 11(e) Charter rights. The provincial court judge issued a stay of proceedings. The Court of Appeal set aside the stay of proceedings and ordered the applicant to stand trial.

Lower Court Rulings