Canadian Miranda Rights And Your Right To Remain Silent

What are your Canadian Miranda rights and your right to remain silent? Well, first of all, I think we’ve all been watching too much US detective shows and police shows, because Miranda rights are actually a US right. In the US basically is this. Miranda is an old Supreme Court of the United States case that said, look, you have a right to an attorney, and you have a right to remain silent. So that’s a very important right, and you’ve heard it on many TV shows in the past, and you’ve seen also the lawyer, the attorney show up at the police station. It’s a little bit different Canada. So first of all, we do have a right to counsel under Section 10(b) of the Charter of Canadian rights and freedoms. Now that’s very important right. You have a right to retain and consult with a lawyer immediately on upon arrest or detention, but that lawyer’s not allowed to attend the room, the interrogation room, with you, like they do in the States. You’re allowed to a phone call, so that lawyer’s going to tell you to shut up, give you some legal advice, then they’re bringing you to interrogation room, and in that room you should also shut up and not answer any questions. But after you’ve consulted with that lawyer, the police can continue the interrogation. Unlike the states, where if you ask for a lawyer to be present, they can’t continue an interrogation until they show up, and that lawyer should tell them to be quiet as well unlike what you see on the TV shows. 

So the second important right is similar to the States, it’s the right to remain silent. That’s what your lawyer’s going to advise you. You should never talk to the police after arrest or detention at all. You can be polite, say your name, rank and serial number, don’t engage in any conversation at all. So that right is under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It’s a very long standing right under common law, case law, for many years. So there’s some fundamental differences between the States and Canada. The main one is, you see my clients ask me this all the time, can you come down to the police station with me during the interrogation? No, we’re not allowed to. It’s not the United States. We’ve been all watching too many detective shows, police shows, as I started out in this matter. So  there you have it. There’s a simplified version of the differences. It’s similar, but it’s different, and a lot of clients get confused about this. But here’s the bottom line, if you’re arrested, ask for a lawyer immediately. follow their advice and exercise your right to remain silent throughout the entire investigation.