Thoby Black Cochrane King

The appellant filed a public complaint regarding a police officer's conduct during a traffic stop.

After the Chief of Police concluded the misconduct was not serious enough to warrant a hearing, the appellant requested a review by the Independent Police Review Director under section 71 of the Police Services Act.

The Director directed the Chief to serve a Notice of Hearing but explicitly instructed the Chief not to apply to the Board for a finding that the delay was reasonable under section 83(17), despite more than six months having passed.

The Hearing Officer dismissed the charges for noncompliance with section 83(17).

On appeal, the Ontario Civilian Police Commission upheld the dismissal, finding that section 83(17) applies to the pre-charge period including a section 71 review, and failure to obtain the Board's opinion on the reasonableness of the delay resulted in a loss of jurisdiction.

The public complainant sought leave to appeal a Hearing Officer's decision dismissing misconduct charges against a police officer due to noncompliance with the six-month delay provision in s. 83(17) of the Police Services Act.

The respondent officer objected to the Independent Police Review Director participating in the leave application.

The Commission held that the Director has standing to participate in pre-hearing steps, including leave applications.

The Commission granted leave to appeal, finding that the interplay between the Director's oversight powers and the Police Services Board's obligations regarding delay raises issues of significant importance to the policing profession and the community.

The defendant brought an application for a stay of proceedings under section 11(b) of the Charter due to unreasonable delay.

The total delay from the information being sworn (October 10, 2021) to the anticipated end of trial (April 18, 2024) was 922 days.

The court deducted 43 days for defence delay in scheduling a JPT and 14 days as an exceptional circumstance for trial scheduling due to the pandemic.

The court found no further defence delay for failing to proactively assert s. 11(b) rights, as the Crown had twice declined to prioritize the case.

Despite potential Covid-19 deductions, the net delay of 807 days (26.5 months) remained well above the 18-month Jordan ceiling for the Ontario Court of Justice.

A stay of proceedings was granted.

The plaintiffs sought an interlocutory injunction to prevent their neighbours, the defendants, from parking their vehicles on the city boulevard in a manner that allegedly narrowed the access to the plaintiffs' shared driveway.

The plaintiffs argued this constituted a nuisance and infringed their property rights, seeking to apply a modified injunction test requiring only a strong prima facie case.

The court rejected the modified test, finding no substantial interference with property rights.

Applying the traditional RJR McDonald test, the court found a serious issue to be tried but concluded the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate irreparable harm.

The motion for an injunction was dismissed, though the defendants were ordered to remove a parking curb from the boulevard.