Miranda rights in Canada

Factual Questions
1

For the past week thanks to Netflix, we’ve been going through the first season of Forever Knight, a Canadian series about an 800 year-old vampire who’s a homicide detective in Toronto. Fantastical elements aside, twice now when Nick Knight collars the murderer he starts with, “You have the right to remain silent . . .” which is as far as he gets before the scene fade in one case and the uniforms hustling the perp away in the second.

What I’m wondering is has the concept of the accused rights crept across the border to the point of a nearly-identical recitation of those rights to the arrestee, or was the show intended for a US audience and the producers felt it would just look weird if it were left out?

2

Such rights are routinely read to “TV Cop Show” arrestees in the UK. No idea if this depicts real procedure or not, but I’d be surprised if the Miranda thing was unique to the USA. Other democracies do provide similar rights to silence, legal counsel and so on.

3

Here in England, the police say:

“You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”

Which is a bit complicated to understand…

As for your 800 year old vampire - shouldn’t he have retired on a pension by now?! :smiley:

4

Wow… so the Uk doesn’t have the right to remain silent? I mean, if by remaining silent, you’re setting yourself up for future harm, isn’t that lacking the RtRS?

5

The right to silence has been curtailed, not removed completely. The court may draw “such inferences as appear proper” in certain circumstances. The inferences can only be drawn as long as you were given a chance to consult a solicitor and have not been charged. After being charged the caution you are given changes to “you do not have to say anything, but anything you do say may be given in evidence”.

Also, you cannot be convicted of an offence solely on the basis of your failure or refusal to answer questions or furnish information.

6

When arresting:

Alberta:

  1. I am arresting you for (describe briefly reason for arrest)

  2. You have the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay. You may call any lawyer you want or you may get immediate advice from a lawyer without charge.

Do you understand?

Do you want to call a lawyer?

Saskatchewan:

  1. I am arresting/detaining you for: (State offense in general terms - not specific)

  2. You have the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay.

You may call any lawyer you wish.

Legal Aid Duty Counsel is available to provide legal advice to you without charge and can explain the Legal Aid plan to you.

Do you understand?

Do you want to call a lawyer now?

Manitoba

Sec. 10(a) I am arresting you for: (state reason for arrest and provide reasonable date, place, offense, etc).

Sec. 10(b) It is my duty to inform you that you have the right to retain and instruct Counsel without delay.

You may call any lawyer you want.

A Legal Aid Duty Lawyer is available to provide legal advice to you without charge and can explain the Legal Aid Plan to you.

If you wish to contact a Legal Aid Duty Lawyer, I can provide you with a telephone number.

Do you understand?

Do you want to call a lawyer?

Official Warning: “You are not obliged to say anything, but anything you do say may be given in evidence.”

When charging:

You (are charged, will be charged) with (charge).
Do you wish to say anything in answer to the charge? You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say may be given in evidence.

Do you understand?

Secondary caution to charged person:

If you have spoken to any police officer or to anyone with authority or if any such person has spoken to you in connection with this case, I want it clearly understood that I do not want it to influence you in making any statement.

Do you understand?

In addition to that, if the offender falls under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the police warning ‘must be couched in a language which adapts to the age and that will be understood by the young person. The officer must also inform the young person that he has the right before making a statement, to consult his lawyer or another person (father, mother, relative or other appropriate adult) and that his statement must be made in the presence of that person unless he decides otherwise.’

So there you have it. In the Prairie provinces, at least, there’s no Miranda warning as you know it from TV. Instead, each province has its own specific arrest warning. The charge warnings apply to all three provinces, as far as I am aware (although my experience is only in Alberta). Under no circumstances is the arrested person obliged to give a statement.

(My source is the evidence notebook issued to me – procedures are all laid out in a section in the back.)

7

Thanks for the answers, guys. And for the record, I was not meaning to imply that other democracies, particularly our brothers to the north, do not have similar rights for the accused as those here, just that I found it odd hearing a familiar litany from a Canadian cop.

Reading up on the background of the program, it was first on CBS (later in syndication) so it may have been an American production despite its Canadian cast and Toronto location. Who’s to say where the screenwriters were from and we all know how much research goes into a TV program(me).

Wouldn’t that be a bitch?

“Damn, we’ve been paying this guy’s pension for 120 years now. Isn’t he ever gonna die?”

“Probably not – he’s looking as good now as when he retired. I think he has a painting in a closet someplace.”

8

Paragon Entertainment, the producer of Forever Knight, is a Canadian company. However, shows destined for the U.S. market often use “Americanisms,” even if the story takes place in Canada. A common example is police wearing badges on their uniform shirts; real Canadian police wear badges on their hat, and only their warrant card has any form of authority.

9

Glad you cleared that up. I was wondering how many times you’ve been arrested. :eek:

10

Update: He doesn’t really need one.

It had been vaguely mentioned that he’s independently wealthy and just doing the detective gig to pay back society as part of his attempted redemption. He’s careful to keep his net worth hidden, because if it were known people would just assume he’s a crooked cop. The ep. we saw last night finally showed the figures: $485-million. Just goes to show you what 800 years of compound interest will get you.

11

Just Chiming in:

My sister-in-law is a Constable in Toronto, Ontario. She says they do have something very similar to Miranda, but it is called “Rights to Counsel”, Section 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

From Wikipedia -