What is Section 11(b) of the Charter and the Jordan framework?

Section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees that 'any person charged with an offence has the right to be tried within a reasonable time'. The right addresses the harms of pre-trial delay including stress, stigma, restrictions on liberty, fading evidence, and the public interest in timely justice. Remedies for a section 11(b) breach include a stay of proceedings, which terminates the prosecution.

The current framework is R. v. Jordan (2016), where the Supreme Court of Canada replaced the older Morin (1992) framework with bright-line ceilings. The presumptive ceiling is 18 months from charge to actual or anticipated end of trial in provincial court, and 30 months in superior court (or in provincial court following a preliminary inquiry). Delay above the ceiling is presumptively unreasonable, with the Crown required to justify it through exceptional circumstances. Delay below the ceiling can still be unreasonable if the defence demonstrates it has taken meaningful steps to expedite the case.

Jordan triggered a major shake-up of Canadian criminal courts. Hundreds of cases were stayed in the months after the decision, including the high-profile first-degree murder charge against Adam Picard (R. v. Picard, 2017). The federal-provincial-territorial response included additional judicial appointments, scheduling reforms, the elimination of preliminary inquiries for many offences (Bill C-75 of 2019), and the expansion of judicial referees. The Supreme Court refined Jordan in R. v. Cody (2017) to clarify defence delay and discrete events, and in R. v. K.G.K. (2020) to address verdict deliberation time.

Section 11 of the Charter contains nine other procedural rights for any person charged with an offence: section 11(a) (informed without unreasonable delay of the specific offence), section 11(c) (not to be compelled to be a witness in proceedings against oneself), section 11(d) (presumption of innocence), section 11(e) (not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause), section 11(f) (jury trial for offences punishable by five years or more), section 11(g) (no retroactive offences), section 11(h) (not to be tried twice for the same offence, double jeopardy), and section 11(i) (benefit of the lesser punishment if punishment changes between offence and sentencing). Section 11(b) is the most-litigated of the section 11 rights.