Funnelling Individuals to Duty Counsel – A Violation of the Right to Counsel Under s. 10(b)
Individuals under s. 10(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms have the right to retain and instruct counsel. What happens where a detainee advises police that they wish to speak to a private lawyer, but the police, without making sufficient effort, “funnel” the detainee to Duty Counsel (who are lawyers who work for Legal Aid Ontario)? A string of cases commencing in 2018 dealt with this issue, often finding there to be violations of individual righst under [...]