In the Canadian criminal justice system, an accused person has a constitutional right to be tried within a reasonable time. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has previously determined how long, exactly, is a presumptively “reasonable time.” But when a person is tried again for the same offence—an appeal court orders a new trial—how long, […]
On September 30, 2020, the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) held in R v Nguyen, 2020 ONCA 609 [Nguyen] that the 18-month presumptive ceiling established in R v Jordan, 2016 SCC 27 [Jordan] , which governs what constitutes unreasonable delay under s. 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [Charter], applies to proceedings […]
How long is too long to wait for an administrative procedure to run its course? Has the answer changed given increasing focus on improving access to justice in the court system? Or does the COVID-19 pandemic potentially call for a total rethink of existing administrative law rules?
In R v Jordan, 2016 SCC 27 [Jordan] the Supreme Court of Canada noted that the criminal justice system suffers from “a culture of complacency […] towards delay” (para 4). These remarks may come as no surprise to those who have interacted with the justice system in Canada. However, quantitative metrics on the precise extent […]