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Charter of Rights - Criminal - Right to silence - Whether it is a violation of s. 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a police officer to attempt to persuade a detained person, who has asserted a right to remain silent following the exercise of the right to counsel, to break his or her silence - Whether a voluntary statement to police may be excluded on the basis that the accused's right to silence was violated.

In April 2002, Richard Lof was an innocent bystander standing just inside the doorway of a pub. A group of people were arguing outside the pub, when a stray bullet shot by someone in the group struck Lof. He was fatally wounded. The accused was arrested and charged with second degree murder. During the second of two police interviews following his arrest, the applicant made admissions to the police which the Crown sought to introduce into evidence at trial in order to identify the applicant as the shooter. The applicant was given proper Charter warnings and spoke to counsel before the interviews. During the interviews, he repeatedly asserted his right to silence. He repeatedly told the police that he did not want to talk, that he had nothing to say, that he knew nothing about the shooting, and that he wanted to return to his cell. Each time the applicant raised his right to silence, the interviewing officer said that he had a duty or desire to place the evidence before the applicant and he continued the interview. The trial judge admitted the statements into evidence, holding that the police did not breach the applicant's right to silence by continuing to question him after he had asserted his right to silence. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision to admit the admissions into evidence and the applicant's conviction for second degree murder.