Jordan applications

Overview

The Supreme Court of Canada’s 2016 R. v. Jordan decision – often called the ‘Jordan decision’ – establishes timelines that trials must be heard by:

• 18 months after charges are laid – for a province’s main entry point into the court system (example: Provincial Court of Alberta)
• 30 months after charges are laid – for a province’s superior court (example: Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta)

Filed applications

Justice and Solicitor General started tracking defence applications – to dismiss cases based on Jordan timelines – on October 25, 2016.

245 Jordan applications have been filed in Alberta courts between October 25, 2016 - September 30, 2019:

• 10 pending
• 76 dismissed by the court
• 22 granted (3 of which are being appealed by the Crown)
• 49 abandoned by the defence
• 30 proactively stayed by the Crown (on the basis that they wouldn’t survive a Jordan application)
• 58 resolved (unrelated to Jordan)

Resources

Triage Practice Protocol – for Crown prosecutors