The SCC Versus The "Culture Of Complacency": R. v. Cody

In R v. Cody, 2017 SCC 31, the Supreme Court of Canada reiterated its earlier call for reform to the criminal justice system, criticizing a "culture of complacency" toward delays. The Court's insistence on reform may be good news for participants in the civil justice system, too, who have seen many civil actions delayed as courts devote their limited resources to clearing their criminal dockets.

The Court's first call for reform came in the summer of 2016, when the Supreme Court of Canada issued R v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27. R. v. Jordan dramatically changed the framework for determining whether a criminally accused's s. 11(b) Charter rights to be tried within a reasonable time have been violated, most notably by setting an upper limit. The Court required that criminal matters be, in essence, sped up. This resulted in a diversion of judicial resources to criminal matters as courts attempted to accommodate the new timelines, leading to a consequent delay in scheduling