Does the police have to tell me why I am being arrested?
Short answer
Yes. Section 10(a) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that everyone who is arrested or detained has the right “to be informed promptly of the reasons therefor”.
In detail
Section 10 of the Charter imposes three obligations from the moment of arrest or detention: to inform you of the reasons (10(a)), to inform you of your right to counsel and let you exercise it without delay (10(b)), and to let you have the validity of your detention reviewed (10(c)).
“Informing you of the reasons” does not mean handing you a complete file. It means making you understand the real reason for the intervention, in terms you can grasp, so that you are able to make an informed decision about whether to exercise your right to silence and your right to counsel.
Section 11(a) of the Charter adds a separate right, this time for a person who has been charged: the right “to be informed without unreasonable delay of the specific offence”. The details therefore come step by step — the arrest first, the formal charge afterwards.
What to document
Write down word for word, as soon as you can, what you were told the reason was and at what time. Note whether your rights were read to you, in what language, and whether you understood them. Keep every document handed to you on the spot (ticket, undertaking to appear, summons).
Put your facts in writing, free. Writing your version down early, keeping your documents dated and preparing your questions for a lawyer: the tool is there to document, never to advise.
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Official sources
Related questions
- How long can the police hold me before I go before a judge?
- Can the police take my fingerprints if I have not been convicted?
- Do I have the right to a free lawyer right away when I am arrested?
- Can I get legal aid for a criminal charge?
- Who decides to lay criminal charges in Quebec?
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What this page is not
This is general legal information about the law of Quebec and Canada, dated and sourced. It is not legal advice, not a strategy, and not a prediction about the outcome of a case. In Quebec, only lawyers and notaries may give legal advice (Act respecting the Barreau du Québec, ss. 128 and 133). Laws and amounts change: the official source always prevails over us.