“Any person charged with an offence has the right . . . to be tried within a reasonable time.”

Since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in R v Jordan, a complex new body of jurisprudence has developed respecting how section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is to be interpreted and how the Jordan framework should be applied. A Proactive Practitioner’s Guide to Section 11(b) of the Charter provides a comprehensive and detailed review of the relevant caselaw, addressing issues including when section 11(b) is engaged, to what portion of proceedings the framework applies, how key concepts such as defence-caused delay and discrete exceptional circumstances are defined, how the impact of the pandemic has been accounted for, how section 11(b) is applied on sentencing, and considerations related to interlocutory proceedings and appeals. This guide provides both an examination of the caselaw relevant to these issues as well as analysis and discussion related to outstanding questions yet to be settled by the courts. Accordingly, it will provide practitioners with ready answers, with a foundation to pursue legal argument related to section 11(b) of the Charter, and with a roadmap to areas still open to be litigated.

À propos des auteurs

Kozlowski, Tracy

Tracy Kozlowski, BA (Hon), LLB, has worked as Crown Counsel at Crown Law Office — Criminal since 2005, both arguing appeals and prosecuting trials. She has appeared for the Ontario Crown in the Supreme Court of Canada on several seminal section 11(b) cases, including R v Williamson, 2016 SCC 28; R v Cody, 2017 SCC 31; R v Safdar, 2022 SCC 21; and R v JF, 2022 SCC 17. Appearances before the Court of Appeal for Ontario on the subject include R v Haniffa, 2021 ONCA 326; R v JK, 2021 ONCA 256; R v Adu-Bekoe, 2021 ONCA 1136; and R v Picard, 2017 ONCA 692. She frequently appears as a lecturer and acts as an advisor to Crown colleagues and provincial prosecutors on all matters related to section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

Stuart, Joanne

Joanne Stuart, BA (Hon), LLB, has worked as Crown Counsel at Crown Law Office — Criminal since 2008, arguing appeals at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada, including as Intervenor for the AG Ontario on seminal cases related to section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including R v KJM, 2019 SCC 55 and R v KGK, 2020 SCC 7. She has also worked as a trial Crown in Toronto at the Metro West (Etobicoke) Crown Attorney’s Office, and most recently, at the Metro East (Scarborough) Crown Attorney’s Office, including at the new Toronto courthouse at 10 Armoury Street. Prior to working as a Crown, she spent three years working as an Associate at Greenspan Humphrey Lavine (now Greenspan Humphrey Weinstein) doing trials and appeals as defence counsel.