Empaneling Juries and Discharging Jurors

Brendan Green, Senior Counsel, Public Prosecution Service of Canada discusses section 11(f) of the Charter guarantees the right to a trial by jury for a person charges with an offence that carries a maximum sentence of five years or more. Jurors are required to be impartial and independent. The Criminal Code seeks to ensure the impartiality of jurors both at the jury selection stage, through excuses (s. 632) and challenges for cause (s. 638), as well as during the trial through the discharge procedure (s. 644). While all three provisions share a common goal of establishing and maintaining independent and impartial juries, there are important differences between the three. Practitioners should be attentive to the issues of juror impartiality not only through the jury selection process, but throughout the trial process, up to and including the verdict. Recorded on May 28, 2026.