The accused, Ewan Smith, brought an application for a stay of proceedings, alleging a violation of his right to be tried within a reasonable time under section 11(b) of the Charter.
The total delay from the swearing of the Information to the anticipated end of trial was 629 days.
The court applied the R. v. Jordan framework, attributing 57 days to defence delay, resulting in a net delay of 572 days, which exceeded the 18-month presumptive ceiling for the Provincial Court.
The Crown argued for exceptional circumstances due to COVID-19 related delays in scheduling a judicial pre-trial and a Blitz Court date.
The court found 10 days of delay for the judicial pre-trial and 44 days for the Blitz Court date were deductible as exceptional circumstances attributable to the pandemic backlog.
With these deductions, the remaining delay fell below the presumptive ceiling.
The application for a stay of proceedings was dismissed as the defence failed to demonstrate the delay was unreasonable.