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Your Right to Silence in Police Investigations

Woman in sunglasses sitting in a car, holding up her driver's license while a police officer in uniform writes a ticket outside her window.

If you remember one phrase when dealing with the police, it should be this: “lawyer told me not to talk to you.” That line is more than a meme or a slogan. It captures a core legal protection that exists to shield ordinary people from accidentally harming themselves during police investigations.

Understanding your right to silence can make the difference between protecting yourself and creating evidence the police did not already have.

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Your Right to Silence in Police InvestigationsRead More »

Your Right to Silence in Police Investigations Read More »

Kyla Lee Wins the Clawbies Again: Best YouTube Series in 2025

In a crowded legal media landscape, genuinely useful content is hard to find. Content that is clear, engaging, and relevant to both lawyers and the public is even rarer. Kyla Lee’s videocast, Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t, continues to stand out — and has earned another Clawbies Award in 2025.

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Kyla Lee Wins the Clawbies Again: Best YouTube Series in 2025Read More »

Kyla Lee Wins the Clawbies Again: Best YouTube Series in 2025 Read More »

Episode 434: Mandatory Alcohol Screening Expands, Right to Silence Case, and a Driver Asleep at the Wheel

Mandatory alcohol screening is expanding in parts of Canada, while courts continue to clarify what police can and cannot do after an arrest. In Episode 434 of Driving Law, Kyla Lee and Paul Doroshenko examine new enforcement trends and an important right-to-silence decision.

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Episode 434: Mandatory Alcohol Screening Expands, Right to Silence Case, and a Driver Asleep at the WheelRead More »

Episode 434: Mandatory Alcohol Screening Expands, Right to Silence Case, and a Driver Asleep at the Wheel Read More »

Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 380

This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Bad Science Ends in Court

I learned to love science when I started working with a former RCMP toxicologist in my last year of law school. One of the nice things about DUI law is there is a lot of science, and as my career continued, I discovered there is a lot of bad science backing the assumptions police and prosecutors urge upon the courts. Bad science gets published. It gets funded. It gets defended with remarkable confidence. Most of the time, it only collapses when someone starts asking probing questions.

Here are three weird and wacky law stories where science wandered into the legal system and did not enjoy the experience.

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Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 380Read More »

Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 380 Read More »

The “Last-Minute Disclosure” Traffic Court Strategy – And Why it is Bound to Fail

Many drivers in British Columbia believe that representing themselves in traffic court is a simple way to save money. Some even attempt to use a specific legal “strategy.” That is, waiting until the very last minute to request evidence (disclosure) and then asking for an adjournment. The goal is usually to push the case past the 18-month “unreasonable delay” limit set by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Jordan, hoping the ticket will be thrown out entirely.

However, a recent ruling by the Supreme Court of British Columbia in R. v. Newby, 2025 BCSC 2483, has made it clear that this tactic is likely to fail. Here is why self-representation and manufactured delays are a risky gamble.

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The “Last-Minute Disclosure” Traffic Court Strategy – And Why it is Bound to FailRead More »

The “Last-Minute Disclosure” Traffic Court Strategy – And Why it is Bound to Fail Read More »

Defamation: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!

Welcome to “Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!”

In this episode, Kyla Lee from Acumen Law Corporation examines a case involving a defamation lawsuit between a home building company and dissatisfied homeowners. After the homeowners posted negative reviews online, the company sued for defamation. The homeowners responded by seeking to have the case dismissed under British Columbia’s anti-SLAPP legislation, arguing that their posts constituted expression on a matter of public interest. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case, leaving open significant questions about how far anti-SLAPP protections extend in private disputes.

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Defamation: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!Read More »

Defamation: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! Read More »

Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 379

This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: The market for human body parts

This could have been a topic I covered for Halloween, but a particularly strange legal story appeared just last week in the news. And so here we are, at Christmas, discussing the market for human body parts. Of course, not everybody celebrates Christmas as warm, bright, or celebratory. Some people are tired, and some people are grieving. This week I’m doing something slightly counterintuitive and talking about death and things in packages despite it being Christmas. 

Birth and death are not strange. They are the most banal human experiences because this happens to every one of us. What is unusual is to die and have your body parts become inventory, a good to be traded. This week on Weird and Wacky Wednesdays, we’re going to look at three recent and connected cases where the law had to step in because people were selling body parts. 

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Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 379Read More »

Weird and Wacky Wednesdays: Volume 379 Read More »

Can Police Swap Legal Justifications For Demands After the Fact? 

Every so often a judgment comes along that quietly rewrites the rules while pretending nothing has changed. R. v. Jerlo is one of those decisions. On its face, it looks like a simple impaired-driving case involving a self-represented accused and a helpful amicus. 

Underneath, it signals a quiet but substantial erosion in search-and-seizure protections, effectively giving police permission to retrofit their legal justification for a roadside breath demand after the fact. And because the accused was self-represented, the only pushback came through an amicus whose mandate stopped well short of mounting the vigorous constitutional challenge this issue deserved.

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Can Police Swap Legal Justifications For Demands After the Fact? Read More »

Can Police Swap Legal Justifications For Demands After the Fact?  Read More »

Obstruction of a Police Officer: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!

Welcome to “Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!”

In this episode, Kyla Lee from Acumen Law Corporation examines a case involving an arrest for obstruction in the context of a routine traffic enforcement encounter. A person who was pulled over for a regulatory traffic matter—such as speeding or running a red light—was arrested for obstruction when they attempted to leave. Although the trial judge found the arrest unlawful, the Court of Appeal reversed that decision. The Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case, leaving unresolved questions about the scope of police powers in regulatory versus criminal contexts.

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Obstruction of a Police Officer: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t!Read More »

Obstruction of a Police Officer: Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! Read More »

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