Blog: Understanding Canadian Criminal Law

How To Successfully Defend Utter Threats Charges in Toronto The crime of uttering threats carries with it serious consequences, including the potential for imprisonment. Quite often, allegations of uttering threats to cause bodily harm or death will arise out of a...

Defending Dangerous Driving Charges in Toronto Our lawyers have defended dangerous driving charges in all corners of the province and often appear in courts across the GTA in addition to the Toronto courthouses including Newmarket, Oshawa, Brampton, and Milton. Daniel...

How To Appeal Your Provincial Offences Act Conviction or Sentence in Toronto, Ontario. Are you looking to hire a lawyer to appeal your Provincial Offences Act conviction or sentence in Toronto, Ontario or elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area? This article is intended...

This article provides a brief summary of the law in relation to the offence of failing to stop or failing to remain at the scene of a traffic accident (section 320.16 of the Criminal Code). In most provinces, a provincial driving statute such as the Ontario Highway...

The lawyers at Daniel Brown Law continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation. As always, our priority is the health and well-being of our firm members, clients, and community. To do our part to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, effective Monday, March 16,...

How to Defend Allegations of Publishing an Intimate Image Without Consent Since 2015, publishing an intimate image of someone else without their permission is a crime in Canada. Section 162.1 of the Criminal Code captures all ways in which intimate images may...

Voyeurism Lawyers Toronto Voyeurism was added to the Criminal Code of Canada in 2005 to address a concern that new technologies could be used to more easily spy on people secretly for sexual purposes. A voyeurism conviction can cause irreparable harm to a person's...

Under section 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, everyone who has been arrested by the police on a criminal charge has the “right to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be informed of that right”. Police have to tell you that you can...

A criminal appeal lawyer is often required to prepare an appeal by relying solely on the evidence presented during the trial. In some cases, the appeal lawyer can present new evidence to the appeal court.  This can assist in getting the court to overturn a conviction...

Since 2004, Canadian Courts have required those found guilty of certain sex related crimes be registered in a sexual offender database. The Sexual Offender Information Registry Act (SOIRA) imposes obligations for those placed on the National Sex Offender Registry to...

With consent, it is not illegal in Canada to have a sexual relationship with someone older than sixteen years of age, regardless of the age difference between the two parties. An exception to this rule occurs when the sexual relationship exists between someone holding...

The ruling of R. v. Zargar, 2014 ONSC 1415 affirms that police cannot generally enter a person’s home without permission except under very limited circumstances. The case also establishes that a person can use a reasonable amount of physical force to remove a police...

Earlier today, Justice Ian Nordheimer released his ruling dismissing the application by Mohammad Khattak to access to the Rob Ford 'crack video'. The Application was brought on behalf of Mohammad Khattak, one of three men pictured with Mayor Rob Ford outside a...

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court of Canada released their ruling in R. v. Pham 2013 SCC 15 which answers the question, “What weight should be given to collateral immigration consequences in sentencing?” Mr. Pham was not a Canadian citizen. He was convicted at...

It is a crime in Canada to cause a police officer to enter on or continue an investigation with the intent to mislead them in any of the following scenarios: (a) making a false statement that accuses some other person of having committed an offence; (b) doing anything...

The police will often act covertly in an undercover capacity in order to investigate criminal activity. Rarely, the police will go too far in their undercover investigations and actually induce an otherwise law-abiding person into committing a crime such as...

It is often understood that a criminal conviction may significantly impact a person's future employment and travel opportunities. However, most people facing criminal charges are unaware how a conviction may impact their ability to bring or defend a civil lawsuit...

Conditional sentencing, introduced in Canada in September 1996, allows for sentences of imprisonment to be served in the community, rather than in a correctional facility. Conditional sentences normally include a period of house arrest but may also include graduated...

Earlier this week, the Ontario Court of Appeal released their ruling in R. v. Docherty, 2012 ONCA 784. The central issue in Docherty was whether the trial judge improperly instructed the jury that a person under attack has a duty to retreat from their home in order to...

This article attempts to clarify to what extent parents or teachers can physically discipline children under their care. Section 43 of the Criminal Code of Canada, enacted in 1892, provides parents, teachers and caregivers — including babysitters and foster parents —...