Supreme Court of Canada Decision – R v. Jordan 2016 SCC 27

In July 2016, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) established a new framework with respect

to reasonable time frames for trials: 18 months for cases tried in the provincial court, and 30 months for cases tried in the superior court (or cases tried in the provincial court after a

preliminary inquiry).

National Forensic Laboratory Services (NFLS) would like to remind its clients of the following:

1. Laboratory submissions should be initiated as soon as possible in the investigation as to

ensure that it provides the laboratory with an adequate amount of time to complete

the necessary work and court disclosure.

2. Once a laboratory submission is approved by the Forensic Assessment Center, exhibits

should be shipped immediately to avoid un-necessary delays.

3. Known trial dates need to be provided to the Forensic Assessment Center at the time

the laboratory request form c414 is submitted in order to ensure adequate

prioritization by NFLS.

4. The Forensic Assessment Center should be notified without delay if a trial date is set or

changed after a submission has already been sent to the laboratory (when trial

information was not available at the time the laboratory request was made).

NFLS is committed to deploy the necessary analytical resources to accommodate trial dates

whenever possible. However, it is the responsibility of the clients to ensure that an adequate

amount of time is provided to the laboratory to complete the required analysis and subsequent

disclosure. NFLS may not be able to meet last minute requests.