Savdip Sanghera Appellant v. Her Majesty The Queen, 2015 SCC 13

SUPREME COURT OF CANADA Citation: R. v. Sanghera, 2015 SCC 13, [2015] 1 S.C.R. 691 Date: 20150319 Docket: 36017 Between: Savdip Sanghera Appellant and Her Majesty The Queen Respondent Coram: McLachlin C.J., Abella, Rothstein, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Gascon and Côté JJ. Reasons for Judgment: (paras. 1 to 5) McLachlin C.J. (Abella, Rothstein, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Gascon and Côté JJ. concurring) R. v. Sanghera , 2015 SCC 13, [2015] 1 S.C.R. 691 Savdip Sanghera Appellant v. Her Majesty The Queen Respondent Indexed as: R. v. Sanghera 2015 SCC 13 File No.: 36017.

2015: March 19. Present: McLachlin C.J. and Abella, Rothstein, Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Gascon and Côté JJ. on appeal from the court of appeal for british columbia Constitutional law — Charter of Rights — Right to be tried within a reasonable time — Accused charged in 2009 and convicted in 2012 — Five-month delay caused by direct indictment — Overall delay found reasonable — Majority of Court of Appeal did not err in concluding that trial judge failed to attribute sufficient delay to accused — Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s. 11(b) .

Statutes and Regulations Cited Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , s. 11( b ). APPEAL from a judgment of the British Columbia Court of Appeal (Lowry, Bennett and MacKenzie JJ.A.), 2014 BCCA 249 , 313 C.C.C. (3d) 113, 357 B.C.A.C. 175, [2014] B.C.J. No. 1316 (QL), 2014 CarswellBC 1847 (WL Can.), affirming the accused’s convictions. Appeal dismissed, Karakatsanis and Côté JJ. dissenting. Colleen E. Elden , for the appellant. Christie Lusk and John Gordon , Q.C. , for the respondent.

The judgment of the Court was delivered orally by [ 1 ] The Chief Justice — This is an appeal as of right based on the dissenting view of Bennett J.A. of the British Columbia Court of Appeal that the five-month delay caused by the Crown’s preferment of a direct indictment, which was not considered by the trial judge, established an unreasonable delay in violation of s. 11(

b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . [ 2 ] MacKenzie J.A., for the majority of the British Columbia Court of Appeal, concluded: It is my view that if [the trial judge] erred in not attributing to the Crown responsibility for the five months’ delay arising from the direct indictment, . . . such error does not upset the overall result, as I have found that other factors weigh more heavily on the other side of the balance. ( 2014 BCCA 249 , 313 C.C.C. (3d) 113, at para. 148 ) [ 3 ] The majority of the Court sees no error in the conclusion of the majority of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

The majority would accordingly dismiss the appeal. [ 4 ] Karakatsanis and Côté JJ., dissenting, would allow the appeal for the reasons of Bennett J.A. [ 5 ] The appeal is dismissed. Judgment accordingly. Solicitor for the appellant: Colleen E. Elden, Vancouver. Solicitor for the respondent: Attorney General of British Columbia, Vancouver.