Find a Criminal Defence Lawyer in Canada

Use your right to silence and your right to a lawyer. Do not explain your side to police without advice, even if you are innocent, because what you say can be used as evidence. Police must tell you about your right to a lawyer, including free legal aid, and asking to speak to one is always the right first move.

Early on, a criminal defence lawyer advises you before you speak to police, runs or prepares the bail hearing, and gets the Crown's disclosure. Then they test that evidence, look for Charter breaches and delay problems, negotiate with the Crown, which can mean a withdrawal, a lesser charge or a discharge, and take the case to trial when that is the better path.

There is no official fee schedule for private criminal lawyers in Ontario, and fees depend on the charge, the evidence, and whether the case resolves or goes to trial. If money is tight, check legal aid first: Legal Aid Ontario may pay for a lawyer when a charge could mean jail and your family income is under its thresholds. Our guide on what a lawyer costs in Ontario explains the billing models you will see.

Possibly. Legal Aid Ontario may pay for your lawyer if the charge could send you to jail and your family income is below $45,440 for a household of one to four people, or $50,803 for five or more, with assets under $15,000. It may ask you to pay part of the fees. Duty counsel at the courthouse can help with bail hearings and guilty pleas, and people in custody are treated as eligible.

A justice decides whether you are released while the case goes on, and on what terms. The law starts from release without conditions, and in most cases the Crown has to justify each more onerous form of release, while any conditions must be the least onerous that fit the case. Some charges reverse that onus so the accused has to show why release is justified, which is when having a lawyer at the hearing matters most.

It varies widely, but there is an outer limit. Under R. v. Jordan, delay is presumed unreasonable past 18 months for a case tried in the Ontario Court of Justice, or 30 months in the Superior Court, not counting delay the defence caused. Past that ceiling, the delay is presumed unreasonable unless the Crown shows exceptional circumstances. For offences committed before 18 July 2026 the usual remedy is a stay of the charge; for offences since then, the Criminal Code allows a stay only if no other remedy would be appropriate and just.

A conviction creates a record, but a discharge is not a conviction, and after one year for an absolute discharge, or three for a conditional one, federal records of it cannot be disclosed without ministerial approval. For a conviction, you can apply to the Parole Board of Canada for a record suspension once the waiting period has passed, which, if your first offence was on or after 13 March 2012, is five years after a summary sentence or 10 after an indictable one. Some records are not eligible at all. The fee is $50.

No. Careless driving is an offence under Ontario's Highway Traffic Act, a provincial law, with a fine of $400 to $2,000, up to six months in jail and a licence suspension of up to two years. Dangerous operation of a vehicle is different: it is a Criminal Code offence. If you face only the provincial charge, a traffic lawyer or paralegal is usually the right fit.

You want someone who regularly defends charges like yours in your region's courts. Olanur matches you privately, based on the charge and your location, with verified defence lawyers, and matching is free. Confidential communications made to get legal advice, including at a first consultation, are generally protected by solicitor-client privilege.