What Can I Do If My Rights Were Violated?

If my rights were violated - can I still be arrested, charged, and found guilty?

  • You might be arrested and charged by police. This could lead to you having a police record for a long time (this is different than a criminal record), even if charges are dropped or if you are not convicted.
    To find out if police are keeping any charges (including dropped charges) against you on record, see the CCLA’s “Resources on police record checks” page.
  • A judge will sometimes consider what the police did when they arrested and charged you, and sometimes might throw out evidence that police obtained through a violation of your Charter rights, or sometimes a judge might allow the prosecution to use that evidence against you.
  • When rights violations are extremely serious, a judge might “stay” the charges –in effect throwing out the case against you because of the police’s actions.