Questions and answers

Say this and nothing else: “I want to speak to my lawyer. I have nothing to say to you.” Then stop talking, and keep saying it if they keep asking. The only things you have to give are your name, and your licence if you were driving. You do not have to explain, correct, clarify or fill in a gap, and you should not try.

No. Your silence cannot be used as evidence against you, and if your case reaches a jury the judge tells them so directly. Officers sometimes suggest otherwise. Here is the part almost nobody knows: if you explain yourself and your explanation helps you, your lawyer still cannot play that recording at trial, because the rules of evidence do not let you enter your own statement in your own favour. If it hurts you, the Crown can play it. Talking is a bet that only pays out one way.

Not simply because they have arrested you. Searching a phone normally needs a warrant, and where police do search one on arrest the law sets narrow limits on how far they may go. Do not give your passcode and do not consent. If they take it anyway, say clearly that you do not consent, then let us look at how they got in. Phone searches are one of the more common places a prosecution comes apart.

A house needs a warrant, apart from a few narrow exceptions such as a genuine emergency. A car can be searched in more situations, including after a lawful arrest, but the arrest itself has to have been lawful first. In every case: say “I do not consent to a search”, say it out loud, and do not physically resist. Consenting throws away an argument we may otherwise be able to make for you.

No, and we hear this constantly. Statements get challenged and excluded all the time: on whether it was truly voluntary, on whether you were told about your right to a lawyer and actually allowed to use it, and on whether they were entitled to detain you at all. Tell us exactly what happened, including anything said in the car or before the recorder was switched on. That part is often the most useful.

Not before you have spoken to a lawyer. An invitation to explain is an invitation to an interview, and those interviews are conducted by officers trained specifically to obtain statements. It costs you nothing to call us first, and we can usually tell you in a few minutes whether attending helps you or hands them their case.

No. On arrest or detention you must be promptly informed of the reason and of your right to counsel. A failure to do so properly is itself a Charter breach and can support an application to exclude what follows.

If you aren’t released from the station, you must be brought before a justice for a bail hearing without unreasonable delay, which generally means within 24 hours where a justice is available.

No. Polygraph results are not admissible as proof in a Canadian criminal trial, but anything you say during the process is a statement like any other. A polygraph request is an interview request wearing a costume.

That’s an interview request. Decline politely and call a lawyer. If you truly are peripheral to the investigation, counsel can communicate that far more safely than you can.

Nothing. The first conversation is free and confidential, you will speak to one of us rather than an intake screener, and you are under no obligation afterwards. Plenty of people call, get an answer, and never retain us.

It depends almost entirely on where the case ends, so we will give you a number on the first call rather than make you guess. A matter resolved after a Crown pre-trial costs a fraction of one that runs a 3-week jury trial. Wherever we can, we quote a block fee covering a defined stage, such as the bail hearing or the trial, so you know the figure instead of watching a meter. Where the scope genuinely cannot be predicted we bill hourly against a retainer held in trust. Either way it is in writing before you commit to anything.

Usually we can arrange something. Raise it on the first call. It is an ordinary question and nobody here thinks less of you for asking it.

You are not without options. Duty counsel are free at every courthouse and can help at a first appearance and at many bail hearings, whatever you earn. Legal Aid Ontario issues certificates to people who pass its financial test, and that covers a great many serious charges. Apply early, because it takes time. Going unrepresented on a serious charge is the worst option on the table, and we will point you somewhere useful even if that somewhere is not us.