A Proactive Practitioner's Guide to Section 11(b) of the Charter

"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.