@prairiepaul If the police pull you over for speeding and ask you, “do you know how fast you were going,” what should you say? Usually your answer will not matter in court. However, the police ask that question as a method of controlling you or to confirm something they are not sure about. #Police #Ticket […]
It’s sometimes hard to believe that in a free and democratic society with a Charter of Rights that the police can detain you and interrogate you just because. The courts in Canada allow the police to pull you over without even a hint of having committed an offence. People are stopped on the street, detained
How do you feel about your rights? Continue Reading »
We are often asked what happens when the police don’t read you your rights during an Immediate Roadside Prohibition investigation. It is really a question of whether there is a remedy. We know it is not uncommon for the police not to read a person their rights during an Immediate Roadside Prohibition investigation. A couple
When They Don’t Read You Your Rights Continue Reading »
It seems like there are a lot of protests going on in the world right now. In Canada, you cannot be arrested for expressing yourself in the form of a protest. You can, however, be arrested if police suspect you committed a crime while protesting. So, is freedom of expression a defence during protests a
Freedom of expression and protests Continue Reading »
While getting on an international flight seems like a distant memory, most of us are familiar with searches at the border. Whether it’s a border services officer searching your hand luggage or inspecting any liquids you are carrying, we are aware that we must surrender some of our property to search. But what about electronic
Can Canadian border agents search your phone or laptop? Continue Reading »
As some of you will know we own an extensive collection of breathalyzers. We don’t know anyone in Canada, other than the police or the government, with a collection as big as ours. After all, if you deal with as many impaired driving files as we do, it pays to know what you’re up against.
Another defective ASD Continue Reading »
There have been some developments regarding the offence of failure to provide a breath sample. But first, some background. In December 2018, the federal government introduced changes to the Criminal Code. They included eliminating the reasonable suspicion standard for a breath test. Previously, police officers needed a reasonable suspicion – such as the driver smelling
Failure to provide breath sample Continue Reading »
The Court of Appeal for British Columbia has given the Canadian government more time to enact new legislation to replace its solitary confinement law. A year ago, the BC Supreme Court ruled sections of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act that authorize the administrative segregation, also known as solitary confinement, to be unconstitutional. The government
Government given new deadline for solitary confinement law Continue Reading »
Welcome to Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! This week, lawyer Kyla Lee discusses businesses and Judicial Independence. Acumen Law Corporation lawyer Kyla Lee gives her take on a made-in-Canada court case each week and discusses why these cases should have been heard by Canada’s highest court: the
It’s not unusual for people to phone us and ask “do I have a warrant?” We get calls like this regularly. There are few circumstances that could cause you to have a warrant for your arrest. The most common are that you missed a court appearance or the authorities want to arrest you on new
Do I have a warrant? Continue Reading »
Acumen Law’s Paul Doroshenko and Kyla Lee were in Ottawa this week testifying at the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights. They were there because of the tangible threat Omnibus Bill C-75 poses to our justice system. We have been critical of the proposed legislation for a while now so when
Paul Doroshenko and Kyla Lee provide testimony on Omnibus Bill C-75 Continue Reading »
When the Federal Government announced the approved drug screening device for use by Canadian police during roadside screening in Criminal Code investigations was going to be the Dräger DrugTest 5000, we immediately shared our reservations. How did we have reservations in the first place? Simple. We had already done our research. We spend a lot
A first look at Dräger DrugTest 5000 Continue Reading »
