The Ontario Court of Appeal has issued a decision that will
likely make it more difficult for defendants in complex regulatory
prosecutions to assert their Charter right to be tried within a
reasonable time.
We have
written before on the ground-breaking decision of the Supreme
Court of Canada in
R v Jordan. In Jordan,
the Supreme Court set hard caps on the time it takes to process
criminal and regulatory prosecution to the end of trial.
Although Jordan was a criminal case, subsequent
cases confirmed that the principle
applies to employers facing regulatory charges as well. In the
Ontario Court of Justice, where offences under the Occupational
Health and Safety Act (“OHSA”), Employment Standards
Act, Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, and other breaches of
provincial regulatory law are prosecuted, Jordan mandates that
trials conclude within 18 months of the charges being laid.
