Fail to remain Lawyers in Canada

The Crown is the prosecutor. A person charged with an offence is presumed innocent until proven guilty, so the Crown is the side that has to prove the charge. Section 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects that presumption.

Under section 320.16(1), the Crown must prove three things: that the person operated a conveyance; that at the time the person knew, or was reckless as to whether, the conveyance had been involved in an accident with a person or another conveyance; and that the person failed, without reasonable excuse, to stop the conveyance, give their name and address and, if any person had been injured or appeared to require assistance, offer assistance.

Section 320.11 defines some of the words. A conveyance is a motor vehicle, a vessel, an aircraft or railway equipment. In respect of a motor vehicle, to operate means to drive it or to have care or control of it.

Sections 320.16(2) and (3) build on the first offence. Subsection (2) applies where the person knows that, or is reckless as to whether, the accident resulted in bodily harm to another person. Subsection (3) applies where the person knows that, or is reckless as to whether, the accident resulted in the death of another person or in bodily harm to another person whose death ensues. Section 2 of the Criminal Code defines bodily harm as any hurt or injury to a person that interferes with the health or comfort of the person and that is more than merely transient or trifling in nature.

Under section 320.19(5), an offence under section 320.16(1) is an indictable offence with a maximum of 10 years in prison, or it can be prosecuted as a summary conviction offence. Section 787(1) sets the general summary conviction maximum, unless the law provides otherwise: a fine of up to $5,000, imprisonment of up to two years less a day, or both.

Section 320.2 covers bodily harm under section 320.16(2). On indictment the maximum is 14 years, with a minimum punishment of a fine of $1,000 for a first offence, imprisonment for 30 days for a second offence and imprisonment for 120 days for each subsequent offence. On summary conviction the maximum is a fine of $5,000, imprisonment for up to two years less a day, or both, and the same minimum punishments apply.

Section 320.21 covers death under section 320.16(3). On conviction on indictment the maximum is imprisonment for life, with the same minimum punishments. A maximum is the limit the law allows and a minimum is the least the law allows. Neither says what sentence a court would give in any case.

Under section 320.24(4), the court that sentences a person found guilty of an offence that includes one under section 320.16 may, in addition to any other punishment, make an order prohibiting the person from operating the type of conveyance in question. The word is may, so the order is at the court's discretion. Under section 320.24(5), the period depends on the imprisonment the offence carries: for an offence punishable by imprisonment for life, any duration the court considers appropriate; for one punishable by more than five years but less than life, not more than 10 years; in any other case, not more than three years. Each period is plus the entire period sentenced to imprisonment.

Under section 41(1) of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, the driver's licence of a person convicted of an offence under section 320.16 committed while driving or having the care, charge or control of a motor vehicle is suspended, subject to other provisions of the Act: for one year on a first conviction, three years on the first subsequent conviction, and indefinitely after that. Section 41(3) says the longer periods do not apply when the subsequent conviction is more than 10 years after the previous conviction.

Section 200(1) of Ontario's Highway Traffic Act applies where an accident occurs on a highway. Every person in charge of a vehicle or street car that is directly or indirectly involved in the accident shall remain at or immediately return to the scene, render all possible assistance and, on request, give in writing the details the section lists, such as their name, address and driver's licence number, to anyone sustaining loss or injury, to any police officer or to any witness.

A person who contravenes the section is liable to a fine of $400 to $2,000, imprisonment of up to six months, or both, and the licence or permit may also be suspended for up to two years. This provincial offence is separate from the Criminal Code offence, and a lawyer can explain how the two relate to a particular set of facts. This page does not describe the court process for it.

The words of section 320.16(1) show where a case can turn. The Crown must prove that the person operated the conveyance, so the identity of the driver is part of the case, that the person knew or was reckless as to whether there had been an accident, and that the person failed, without reasonable excuse, to do what the section requires. These points are decided on the evidence at trial.

Section 10 gives everyone on arrest or detention the right to be informed promptly of the reasons, to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right. Section 11(b) gives a person charged with an offence the right to be tried within a reasonable time.

Section 24(1) lets anyone whose Charter rights were infringed or denied apply to a court for a remedy. Under section 24(2), evidence obtained in a manner that infringed a Charter right shall be excluded if admitting it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. Whether a right was infringed is for the court to decide.

In Ontario, every charge under the Criminal Code starts in the Ontario Court of Justice, and about 95% of charges are completed there. The Superior Court of Justice can try any indictable offence but generally tries only the most serious ones.

A summary conviction appeal in Ontario goes to the Superior Court of Justice sitting in the region, district or county or group of counties where the case was decided. An appeal from a conviction on indictment goes to the court of appeal. Under section 675(1), a person may appeal as of right on a question of law alone. An appeal on a question of fact, or of mixed law and fact, needs leave, as does an appeal against sentence.

Legal Aid Ontario may pay for a lawyer if the person qualifies and is charged with a crime that could mean jail on conviction, or is 12 to 17 and charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Duty counsel is a lawyer at the courthouse for that day. Duty counsel can advise on rights, ask to delay a court date, act at a bail hearing, help with a guilty plea, speak at sentencing, and meet the Crown, for people who qualify and have no lawyer.

A legal aid certificate pays a roster lawyer, one approved to take legal aid clients, for the length of the criminal case. Applications are online or by phone at 1-800-668-8258.

The Law Society of Ontario keeps a public Lawyer and Paralegal Directory. The Ontario lawyers on this site are listed by city. Nothing on this page ranks or recommends any of them.