The Supreme Court of Canada and Parliament are considering major changes to how unreasonable delays in criminal trials are handled. A recent Supreme Court ruling in May suggested that judges may reconsider their long-standing precedent of automatically granting a stay when there is an unreasonable delay, which results in about 10,000 cases being dropped each year. A new law passed by Parliament in June, Bill C-16, requires judges to consider "alternative remedies" instead of automatically staying trials, but the specifics of what these remedies might be are unclear. The debate centers on Section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees a trial within a reasonable time, but has been criticized for resulting in guilty offenders walking free due to delays.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-10,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
When the Charter right to a trial within a reasonable time is violated, there is only one outcome: A person accused of a crime walks free.
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person → violate → crime
Unreasonable delays upend about 10,000 criminal cases a year – more than 4 per cent of the total across Canada.
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delays → upend → Canada
Data obscure the personal pain.
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Data → obscure → pain
Activists have escalated their calls for change, decrying the litany of cases involving allegations of serious offences, such as sexual assault, that conclude without real resolution.
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that → escalate → resolution
But after years of debate, the justice system appears to be on the cusp of a major change.
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system → appear → change
In recent months, both Parliament and the Supreme Court of Canada have considered other ways to resolve the question of what happens when the process of justice goes on for too long, causing an unreasonable delay in a criminal trial.
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process → consider → trial
A Supreme Court ruling in May clearly stated that the country’s top judges are ready to reconsider one of their long-standing precedents.
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judges → state → precedents
Another ruling is coming this Friday that could add to that thinking.
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that → come → thinking
And legislators passed a law in June, which took force in mid-July, to try to address the issue.
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which → pass → issue
Together, the moves show that the justice system is pushing toward an overhaul of how unreasonable delays are handled.
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delays → show → overhaul
What it means is that a trial delay might not automatically result in a stay, where a case is effectively shelved and the trial ends without a verdict on the allegations against the accused.
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trial → mean → accused
But no one has worked out what change might look like.
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change → work → what
Parliament’s new law, Bill C-16, calls on judges to consider “alternative remedies” to a stay if there is an unreasonable delay.
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law → call → stay
But the law is open ended, leaving it up to the courts to figure out.
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law → leave → courts
Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser said in an interview that Ottawa chose to take a general approach in Bill C-16.
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Ottawa → say → Bill
“I don’t want to prejudge what other remedies courts may look at,” Mr. Fraser said.
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Fraser → want → remedies
“We deliberately want to leave it open.”
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We → want → it
The debate over how to handle delays starts with Section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
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debate → handle → Rights
This protects Canadians’ right to a trial within a reasonable time if charged with an offence.
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This → protect → offence
Veteran criminal-defence lawyers call it the least popular provision in the Charter.
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lawyers → call → Charter
Few people are happy when a person accused of crimes such as sexual assault walks free because the process took too long.
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process → accuse → assault
That outcome goes back almost four decades, to a Supreme Court precedent from 1987 called Rahey.
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outcome → go → 1987
In 1981, Carl Rahey was charged with contraventions of the Income Tax Act, making six years of false tax returns and evading about $130,000 in taxes.
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Rahey → charge → taxes
But the case dragged out, and he asserted that his Charter right to a trial within a reasonable time had been violated.
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right → drag → time
At the Supreme Court in 1987, the judges didn’t quantify what “reasonable time” meant; the court highlighted the circumstances of Mr. Rahey’s case.
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court → quantify → case
The key decision in Rahey was that if a trial goes on too long, “a stay of proceedings will be the appropriate remedy.”
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stay → go → proceedings
But the lack of a clear definition of what constituted “unreasonable” meant it was mostly considered on a case-by-case basis – until a decade ago, in the Supreme Court’s 2016 Jordan ruling.
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it → constitute → ruling
Seeking to spark a speedier justice system, the Supreme Court delineated how much time is reasonable.
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time → seek → system
The court’s landmark Jordan judgment set strict deadlines for criminal trials: 18 months in provincial courts and 30 months in superior courts.
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judgment → set → courts
The new Jordan deadlines supercharged the Rahey precedent.
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deadlines → supercharge → precedent
With a rigid formula in place, cases that breach the Jordan limits result in automatic stays.
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that → breach → stays
Rahey and Jordan sparked havoc.
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Rahey → spark → havoc
No one doubts the importance of a trial in a reasonable time.
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one → doubt → time
The accused cannot be left to languish, free on bail waiting many months for trial or behind bars in jail and still presumed innocent.
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accused → accuse → jail
And for people who have suffered sexual assault and other serious crimes, a resolution in court is of obvious importance.
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resolution → suffer → importance
But the high volume of cases derailed by Rahey, a situation compounded by Jordan, has pushed Parliament and the Supreme Court to think about change.
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volume → derail → change
Ottawa took on the issue in Bill C-16, tabled last December.
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Ottawa → take → Bill
The bill added a new part to the Criminal Code titled “Unreasonable Delay.”
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bill → add → Code
The law states that a court shall not order a stay because of unreasonable delay unless there is “no other remedy” that would be appropriate and just.
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that → state → delay
It remains a Supreme Court precedent that guides the lower courts.
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that → remain → courts
…and 27 more, not listed.
