R v Williamson

R. v. Williamson
Supreme Court of Canada
Hearing: October 7, 2015 Judgment: July 8, 2016
Full case name	Her Majesty The Queen v Kenneth Gavin Williamson
Citations	2016 SCC 28
Docket No.	36112 [1]
Ruling	Appeal dismissed
Court membership
Chief Justice: Beverley McLachlin Puisne Justices: Rosalie Abella, Thomas Cromwell, Michael Moldaver, Andromache Karakatsanis, Richard Wagner, Clément Gascon, Suzanne Côté, Russell Brown
Reasons given

R v Williamson is a leading Supreme Court of Canada case in which the Court ruled that Section 3 the Charter of Rights and Freedoms prohibited undue delays in criminal proceedings. The right to be tried within reasonable time was, in Williamson's case, delayed nearly three years between the laying of charges and the end of trial. The justices weighed whether the accused’s right to be tried within reasonable time under s. 11(b) of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was infringed, and found a new framework for determining s. 11(b) infringement. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

The Court used the ratio decidendi of R v Jordan (2016) . ^[2]

Background

The case involved the sexual abuse of a minor (Ruttan) at the hands of a Queen's University student (Williamson) who was given authority over him by the judiciary in Kingston. ^{[5] [6]}

In the summer of 2017, Ruttan obtained permission from the Court for The Globe and Mail to disclose his name. ^[5]

References

1. SCC Case Information - Docket 36112 Supreme Court of Canada
2. "R. v. Williamson, 2016 SCC 28 (CanLII), [2016] 1 SCR 741". Canadian Legal Information Institute.
3. "Justice delayed for child-abuse victim Byron Ruttan as Ontario fights his civil claim".
4. "'I know the truth': A rape survivor on the line between justice delayed and justice denied".
5. Fine, Sean (29 December 2019). "'People understand me now': Byron Ruttan is finally at peace after a 40-year quest for justice". The Globe and Mail Inc.
6. "Jean Royce Hall sexual abuse case comes to a conclusion". The Queen's Journal. 10 January 2020.