It is nerve wracking to wait until your trial date which is always months and sometimes years after the dates of any alleged offences.

For less serious offences, requiring a one day trial, for example, it is not unusual for a trial date to be 12 months after the date the charges are laid. The delay is often caused by any of the following factors:

• The Crown is delayed obtaining some or all of the evidence from the police;
• The officers are unavailable for trial dates because they have other court commitments or are on leave at the time defence counsel is available;
• Scientific testing of evidence is delayed;
• There are no judges available to hear your trial before a certain date because the Courts are busy.

You do have a constitutionally-protected right to a trial without unreasonable delay. Whether the delay is unreasonable in your situation will depend on how long the wait has been, what the reason is for the delay and how serious or complex the charges are. At Auger Hollingsworth we keep careful watch over how long our matters take to go to trial. If the delay is excessive, we bring proceeding to enforce our clients' Charter rights.