Criminal Law and Provincial Offences
Core concepts
Understand the criminal process from investigation to sentence: classification of offences (summary conviction, indictable, hybrid), arrest and detention, search and seizure, Charter rights, bail, disclosure, election, plea, trial, and sentencing. For provincial offences, know the Provincial Offences Act framework: certificate of offence, summons, trial de novo, and appeal. A hybrid offence gives the Crown an election; the election affects procedure and penalties. Section 10(b) of the Charter is engaged on detention and requires a reasonable opportunity to consult counsel. Warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable unless authorized by law and reasonable.
Traps
Exams often test whether detention has begun, whether the right to counsel was breached, and whether evidence should be excluded under s. 24(2). Do not assume a traffic stop is not a detention for Charter purposes. Do not confuse arrest powers with search powers; a search incident to arrest must be linked to the arrest. In bail, the default is release on an undertaking with conditions, not detention. In provincial offences, the appeal is not a fresh trial; the trial de novo is at first instance.
Worked example
Police stop your client, smell alcohol, and question him before letting him call counsel. He makes an incriminating statement. Analyse detention, s. 10(b), and s. 24(2). The statement may be excluded if the breach was serious and the statement is non-compellable but conscriptive. Advise on the strength of the exclusion argument, not merely on guilt.
Rule of thumb
For every police interaction ask: was there detention, was counsel offered, was the search authorized, and what is the remedy?