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Why the wait? Delays in disclosure of evidence repeatedly flagged in N.L. Jordan cases
By all accounts, it seemed like a simple case. On a late summer day in 2022, a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer was reviewing police notes in a parking lot next to the liquor store on Topsail Road in St. John's. He spotted a truck driving in a manner that he thought may signal an impaired driver.
After the RNC officer pulled the driver over, he alleged that the driver walked towards him. A verbal exchange and physical altercation ensued. According to the case summary referenced in court documents, the officer put his hands on the driver to arrest him for obstruction. The man pulled away and grabbed the police officer by his vest, leading to a struggle before he was controlled and put in the backseat of the RNC cruiser.
A breathalyzer test returned a reading of zero. The driver was charged with obstruction and assaulting a police officer. He pleaded not guilty. Because of the nature of the allegations, the defence wanted to know whether there were any allegations of serious misconduct on file for the officer involved. There weren't. But it took about 15 months for that information to be disclosed.
An analysis of cases tossed under R. v. Jordan shows delays handing over disclosure to the defence are a driving factor.
In 2025, nearly three years after the arrest, a judge stayed the charges, because the case took too long to get to trial, largely because of that disclosure delay. A decade ago, the Supreme Court of Canada's R. v. Jordan decision set timelines for trials to be completed from the time charges are laid — 18 months in provincial court.
For the past year and a half, CBC Investigates has been working to identify cases that have been tossed due to those Jordan timelines. We tracked dockets, attended court and reviewed documents. Our analysis shows that one of the driving factors is the delay in handing over disclosure — evidence in the case — to the defence. Many of the cases involved lengthy time frames for what seemed to be relatively routine requests.
In an interview earlier this year, Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Chief Patrick Roche expressed his confidence in the force's ability to assist in meeting Jordan timelines. "We have technology brought in and steps brought in to ensure that we're within the confines of those, with staff supplied to make sure we do so," Roche said.
The force pointed to the launch, in January 2025, of a digital evidence management system pilot project. The RNC said the application is accessed through a smartphone, where digital evidence can be deposited, collected, and organized. The pilot project involved 60 officers. As of late last month, that number had grown to 378 using the system.
Newfoundland and Labrador's director of public prosecutions, Lisa Stead, said her office is also hoping to improve internal processes with new technology. The 2026 budget included funding to create an information management division and to purchase digital evidence management software. "We anticipate these investments will help us to improve our processes for receiving file materials from the police and subsequently providing disclosure to defence," Stead said.
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