ARCTIC OBITER

NWT DECISION DIGEST CONT’D
deeming provision of the Interpretation
Act is required only to the point where
the Crown makes its election. If the
Crown fails to elect, the offence is
deemed to be indictable and the
accused would be put to his election.
If the Crown fails to elect and the
accused does not elect but simply
enters a “not guilty” plea and proceeds
to trial, the courts have deemed the
offence to be a summary conviction
offence. It would be clear the accused
was treating the offence as a summary
conviction offence, defeating the
deeming provision in the Interpretation
Act. Unlike an adult, a young person
normally does not make an election if
the Crown is proceeding by way of
indictment. In this case nothing
indicated by the Crown or defence, nor
any action taken by the Crown or
defence, showed that either the Crown
or defence were treating this offence as
anything other than indictable. The
facts found after trial would attract a
starting point sentence of three years
imprisonment in adult court. There
would be no expectation on these facts
that the Crown would be proceeding
by way of summary conviction. The
YCJA explicitly deals with the Crown’s
failure to make an election in two
situations (for purposes of appeal, and
access to records). The legislatures
chose to carve out those situations
where the deeming provision of the
Interpretation Act should not apply.
Had they chosen to displace the
deeming provision with respect to
other situations, they would have
included provisions in the YCJA to do
so. A hybrid offence in youth court is
deemed indictable until the Crown
elects otherwise, and provided the
Crown does not (a) act in a manner
that would lead the young person to
believe the Crown was proceeding
summarily; or (b) allow the young
person to proceed as if the Crown was
proceeding summarily.
What a Surprise!
Congratulations to Gary Wolf who
proposed to Magnolia Unka at the
President’s Dinner … and received a
very happy Yes! with Supreme Court
of Canada’s Madam Justice
Karakatsanis as a delighted witness, no
less!
26 ■ FALL 2013 ARCTIC OBITER