Only 2 weeks left!

DISCLAIMER: Please note that the information contained in this post does not constitute legal advice. The law is in perpetual evolution, and this information may be outdated. Furthermore, this information may have little or no relevance for your particular legal predicament. ​Retaining a lawyer is the surest way to obtain useful and accurate legal advice.

Hello!
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My Practicum is coming to an end, in approximately 2 weeks. However, before my final post, I’d like to talk a bit about the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Mr. Garih suggested I read some sections of the Charter: here is a summary of some parts of section 7, 9 and 10. It is impossible to talk about all the rights comprised of in the Charter, but I will try to sum up parts of it.

Section 7: “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”

For me, the most important topic of section 7 is the right to silence: “the right to remain silent is protected as a principle of fundamental justice and is broader than the common law confession rule and the rule against self-incrimination”.

A person arrested has the right to remain silent, and has the right to counsel: “ss. 7 and 11(d) of the Charter require funded counsel to be provided if the accused wishes counsel, but cannot pay a lawyer, and representation of the accused by counsel is essential to a fair trial.”
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Section 10 expresses the right to know and access to Counsel:

10. everyone has the right to know on arrest or detention

a) to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor;

b) to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right;

Finally, one of the most fundamental rights is expressed in section 9. It is “the right not to be arbitrary detained or imprisoned”.

See you in a couple of weeks for my final post!