Detention reviews not recurrent, but can be adjourned, Nunavut judge rules – Nunatsiaq News
20 July 2020
“This issue has not been considered before in Nunavut and I must try to resolve it”
A Nunavut judge has ruled that mandatory detention reviews are a “one-time systems check” and are not recurrent.
Justice Paul Bychok issued his decision on Friday, July 17, in a case that sets the precedent for how detention reviews are conducted in Nunavut.
Defence lawyer Mia Manocchio and Crown lawyer Gregory Lyndon had raised questions at a June 18 hearing on whether a section of the Criminal Code gives Nunavummiut in custody the right to multiple pre-trial detention reviews.
The Criminal Code of Canada, under Section 525, states that when the trial of a person in pre-trial custody is delayed for a period of more than 90 days, the court will review whether detention is necessary. In a 2019 Supreme Court of Canada decision, R. v. Myers, the court unanimously ruled that detention reviews are automatic after 90 days.
But Bychok said that the Myers decision left some issues unresolved, such as who bears the burden of proof at a detention review, whether a detention review could be adjourned and whether an accused can waive their right to a detention review and then revoke that waiver later on.
