A review of Brydges duty counsel services in Canada

The Supreme Court ruled that an individual, when arrested or detained by the police, has the right to be informed of the “existence and availability of the applicable systems of duty counsel and Legal Aid in the jurisdiction, in order to give the detainee a full understanding of the right to retain and instruct counsel” (p. [...] These considerations, therefore, lead me to the conclusion that as part of the information component of s. 10(b) of the Charter, a detainee should be informed of the existence and availability of the applicable systems of duty counsel and Legal Aid in the jurisdiction, in order to give the detainee a full understanding of the right to retain and instruct counsel. [...] As Justice Lamer indicated in the judgment of the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada, the provision of meaningful information about the availability of legal aid and the existence of duty counsel schemes that are offered free of charge constitutes an essential component of the duty that is imposed on the police by section 10(b) of the Charter: On the specific facts of this case, the court is [...] Subsequent Decisions Of The Supreme Court Of Canada 2.2.1 The 1994 Decisions Interpreting Brydges In a series of six cases decided in 1994, the Supreme Court of Canada carefully refined the nature and the scope of the duty of the police to provide the so-called “Brydges caution” to an arrested or detained person. [...] The Court, therefore, took the opportunity to clarify how the precise content of the informational duty, imposed by section 10(b) of the Charter, should be adapted by the police to suit the reality of the diverse patchwork of Brydges services that exists across Canada.