John Frederick Hanbidge

The accused was charged with operating a motor vehicle while impaired by alcohol and operating a motor vehicle with blood-alcohol content exceeding eighty milligrams per one hundred millilitres of blood, contrary to sections 253(1)(a) and 253(1)(b) of the Criminal Code.

The accused admitted guilt to both charges.

However, the court found that the police violated the accused's Charter rights under sections 8, 9, 10(a), and 10(b) by arbitrarily detaining him solely based on his residence in the Northwest Territories, conducting an unreasonable strip search, and failing to inform him of the reason for his continued detention or his right to counsel.

The court granted a stay of proceedings as the appropriate remedy, finding that the cumulative effect of the Charter breaches warranted this exceptional remedy despite the seriousness of the offence and the strength of the Crown's case.

The applicant sought to quash a committal for trial on an allegation of attempting to obstruct justice arising from advice given to a prospective witness before a preliminary inquiry.

Applying the review standard on a motion to quash committal, the court held the Crown evidence lacked sufficient contextual completeness to support a reasonably available inference of specific intent to obstruct justice.

The court distinguished authorities where surrounding words and circumstances supplied interpretive reliability, and found the impugned fragmentary utterance equally consistent with lawful advice to use a proper name rather than a nickname.

Because the record did not provide evidence from which a properly instructed jury could reasonably convict, the committal order could not stand.