09 / 12 · Criminal Code, ss. 145, 515 – 525
Bail Hearings & Breaches
If you or someone you love is being held for a bail hearing, timing matters. We prepare release plans, work with sureties, and advocate for reasonable conditions.
- Bail and show-cause hearings
- Release plans and sureties
- Bail variations and reviews
- Failure to comply with a release order
- Breach of probation
What is at stake
Why this charge needs a real defence.
A bail hearing decides whether you wait for trial at home or in a detention centre, often for months. Detention can cost you your job and housing and makes it far harder to prepare a defence. The Charter guarantees the right not to be denied reasonable bail without just cause, and the law requires release at the earliest opportunity on the least restrictive conditions that are appropriate.
How it is done
How we build your defence.
- 1
Act immediately
A person who is arrested and held must be brought before a justice within 24 hours. We contact the family, find out where the person is being held, and get to work on the release plan right away.
- 2
Build the release plan
A strong plan answers the court's concerns before they are raised: where you will live, who will supervise you, what conditions you will follow, and what support or treatment is in place.
- 3
Prepare the sureties
A surety promises the court to supervise you and pledges an amount of money. We explain the role, assess who is suitable, and prepare each surety to testify.
- 4
Argue the hearing, and what follows
At the hearing we address attendance in court, public safety, and public confidence in the justice system. If bail is denied, we assess a review in the Superior Court; if it is granted, we can later seek to relax conditions.
What we look for
The issues that decide these cases.
- 01
The ladder principle
Courts must consider release on less restrictive terms before more restrictive ones. A surety is not supposed to be the starting point.
- 02
Reverse onus
For certain charges you must show why you should be released, which demands a more thorough plan.
- 03
Unreasonable conditions
Conditions must be necessary and connected to a real risk. Conditions that set you up to fail can be challenged.
- 04
Breach allegations
A failure-to-comply charge requires proof that you knowingly or recklessly breached a condition.
Possible outcomes
What a good result can look like.
- Release on the consent of the Crown, without a contested hearing
- Release after a contested hearing
- Release on review in the Superior Court of Justice
- Conditions varied so you can work, study, or see family
Every case turns on its own facts. These are examples of results that may be available, not a prediction or guarantee of the outcome in your matter.
Questions
What people ask us first.
A surety is someone who promises the court to supervise an accused person while they are on bail and pledges a sum of money that can be lost if the conditions are broken. A surety should know the accused well, have no serious record, and be able to supervise in practice.
A detention order can be reviewed by a judge of the Superior Court of Justice, and it can be revisited if circumstances change materially, for example if a stronger surety or plan becomes available. The law also requires periodic review when someone has been held for an extended time.
Next step
Talk to us about your bail hearings & breaches matter.
A short conversation now can prevent mistakes that are hard to undo later. What you tell us is confidential.
