|
Charter - s.10(a) Detention - 'Informed Promptly of Reasons for'. R. v. Cameron
In R. v. Cameron (Ont CA, 2024) the Ontario Court of Appeal considers Charter s.10(a) ['Arrest or detention - 'Informed promptly of the reasons therefor']:Issue 2: The sufficiency of information given to the appellant at the time of his detention
[30] As reviewed above, at the time of the investigative detention, Officer Cotnam told the appellant that the police were “investigating a serious incident that happened in the area”. He did not provide any further information during the one to two minutes before Officer Chartrand returned to the scene and arrested the appellant.
[31] The appellant argues that this constituted a breach of his s. 10(a) Charter right to be informed promptly of the reasons for his detention. I disagree.
[32] The trial judge did not explicitly consider the issue of whether the appellant was sufficiently informed of the reason for his detention in the one to two minute period between the time when his vehicle was stopped and the time when Officer Chartrand arrested him. However, the trial judge recounted Officer Cotnam’s reasons for restricting the explanation for the detention, which included not wanting to “trigger a confrontation”, without the other officers being present. The trial judge then concluded that considering the context of the detention, “in particular the safety considerations and the very brief period of time”, the “suggestion of a s. 9 or 10 Charter violation evaporates”.
[33] Section 10(a) of the Charter requires that a person detained by the police be promptly advised of the reason for the detention. However, valid safety concerns can justify a delay in advising a person of the reason for a detention: R. v. Gonzales, 2017 ONCA 543, 385 C.R.R. (2d) 115, at para. 128.
[34] In Gonzales, at para. 128, the delay was seven minutes. In this case, the delay between the investigative detention and the arrest was one or two minutes. In his evidence, Officer Cotnam gave a clear explanation for not fully informing the appellant of the reason for the detention. In particular, he stated that given the information that there were four intruders with guns and knives, and that he was in a dark and isolated location, he was concerned that providing more information may escalate the situation. He stated that, based on his experience, if the appellant felt that he was cornered or caught, he might try to escape or flee.
[35] In the circumstances, I see no reason to interfere with the trial judge’s conclusion that the appellant’s s. 10(a) Charter rights were not violated. The delay between the detention and the arrest was very brief and Officer Cotnam had legitimate concerns for his safety during that intervening period.
|
