Part XXI.1 of the Code was proclaimed in force in November 2002. It adopts most of the former law and practice under the repealed section 690 of the Code and removes the characterization of the ministerial review power as the “Mercy of the Crown”. Section 696.1 allows an accused to apply to the Minister of Justice of Canada to review a conviction or a finding that the accused is a dangerous or long term offender. An accused person is only permitted to apply for this remedy after he has exhausted all other appellate remedies. This amounts to an application of last resort. The application seeks a remedy for some legal wrong that is entirely discretionary.
The amendments codified procedures followed by the Minister in recent years. The application for “ministerial review” of a conviction can be initiated only after the applicant’s “rights of judicial review or appeal with respect to the conviction or finding have been exhausted”.1
Subsection 696.4(c) proclaims that the review process “is not intended to serve as a further appeal”. An essential feature of a successful application is that it contains “new matters of significance that were not discovered by the court or previously considered by the Minister”.2 Consequently, resort will be made to this Part when all forms of judicial relief have been exhausted, yet, there is new evidence available that should be considered to right a previous wrong.
(Continued in Part 2)
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme’s book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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