Ottawa – On Friday, December 21, the Supreme Court of Canada will render its decisions in a series of cases involving police gathering information about potential jurors on behalf of Crown prosecutors.
The Court will be delivering its decisions in Yumnu v. H.M.Q., Cardoso v. H.M.Q., Emms v. H.M.Q., Davey v. H.M.Q., and Duong v. H.M.Q. In each of these cases, the Crown deputized the police to gather private information on prospective jurors. The police, in turn, prepared annotated jury panel lists based on this information. The Crown then used this information in deciding which jurors would be chosen during jury selection.

The BCCLA is an intervener in these cases and argued that jury-vetting by police to gain a tactical advantage in jury selection creates a pervasive air of unfairness and bias, and that the Crown’s conduct in these appeals would cause a reasonable person to question the fairness of the trial, thereby violating the accused’s constitutional rights.

The BCCLA is represented by Nader Hasan and Gerald Chan of Ruby Shiller Chan Hasan Barristers.

The BCCLA’s argument in the case is available here >>

What: Supreme Court of Canada will deliver its decisions in Yumnu v. H.M.Q., Cardoso v. H.M.Q., Emms v. H.M.Q., Davey v. H.M.Q., and Duong v. H.M.Q.
When: Reasons for judgment will be delivered on Friday, December 21, 2012 at 6:45 am PST / 9:45 am EST.
Where: Supreme Court of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario)
Who: BCCLA representatives available for comment