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It hasn’t always been, “Innocent until Proven Guilty” in Canada

Section 11(d) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that:

11. Any person charged with an offence has the right …

(d) to be presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal;

What does allegedly mean?

These days, we almost never hear on the news that someone shot someone or did something. We hear that someone “allegedly” shot someone, or that, “it is alleged that someone did something, or, “the alleged shooter” and so on. Why? Because in Canada, as in many countries, there is a presumption of innocence. This was not always the case in Canada, or in the place that Canada was going to be.

New France, what is now Quebec, became a royal province (of France) in 1663. Louis XIV decided that the new province would follow the “Custom of Paris”, a body of laws which governed the region around Paris.

Speedy Justice

Justice was administered in New France by the Intendant and followed the “inquisitorial method” where guilt was presumed until the accused could prove innocence. Trials lasted as long as the justice decided that he had enough evidence to pass judgement. This provided a cheap, efficient and fast system where sometimes sentences were carried out the same day.  Section 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees today’s defendants with the right to a speedy trial but this was extra speedy.