Alberta sheriffs round up dozens from downtown Calgary mall and force them into jury duty

Imagine you’re grabbing lunch during your break. An Alberta sheriff hands you a piece of paper and says you’re coming with them, either voluntarily or in cuffs.

That happened to dozens of people Thursday at the Core Shopping Centre in downtown Calgary.

The sheriffs were able to issue the court summons using what’s called the ‘talesman procedure,’ something Calgarians haven’t experienced in 26 years.

It means the court ran out of potential jurors and people are being forced to serve with no notice, whether they like it or not.

“The sitting judge may, he or she may, send out the sheriffs to go round up people for jury duty, and essentially serve people with a summons to attend jury duty on the spot,” explained lawyer Brian Hurley from Liberty Law.

“Under this special provision, the round-up provision, if you will, you can still tell the judge when you get to court, ‘Listen Ma’am,’ or ‘Listen Sir, this is an undue hardship for me for these reasons,’ and you might be excused but you have to follow the sheriff to the courthouse and explain yourself there,” said Hurley.

CityNews captured footage of Alberta sheriffs handing people what looked like flyers in the mall. When people accepted the papers, the sheriffs offered them a choice to come with them back to the courthouse by choice or by force.

Imagine you're on lunch break, #Alberta Sheriffs hand you a paper and say you can come to the courthouse w/ them voluntarily or in cuffs. Dozens of Calgarians were forced into jury duty under the 'talesman procedure' on Thurs. #yyc #Calgary — FULL STORY: https://t.co/hD1l1AK4ur pic.twitter.com/wEaIVHHip2

— Saif Kaisar (@StaySaif) June 17, 2022

Several people were seen frustrated, reluctantly following the officers after being handed the summons.

In a statement to CityNews, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s office explains the clause is written in section 642(1) of the Criminal Code, which provides the presiding justice to require sheriffs to summon people from nearby locations and fill vacant spots in a jury upon request of the Crown prosecutor.

“In this case, 80 potential jurors came to court for jury duty and it wasn’t enough to select two juries. The first jury was selected but the second was short six jurors, so additional people were needed,” explained Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s office.

“Trial by jury is a cornerstone of our criminal justice system. Implicit in the right to a jury trial is that the jury will be chosen randomly, and will be impartial and representative of the larger community.”

“Jury management works hard to avoid the need to rely on the talesman procedure. Unfortunately, the number of potential jurors exempted in the days leading up to and on the day of jury selection ultimately resulted in its use.”

So, what happens if you just decide to never accept any documents that a police officer may try to hand you?

“Canada doesn’t work like you see on American television shows. We don’t play this game of dancing around and not touching anything a process server hands you. That’s not the way it works in Canada,” said Hurley. “If you’ve got good reason to know you’re being handed something, simply saying ‘hot potato, I’m not touching it,’ it doesn’t work in Canada.

“They could say ‘Listen, you see me, I see you, you’re coming with me whether you touch this piece of paper or not.’ So, yeah, you want to turn and walk away before it gets to that point but obviously, you probably won’t know what’s going on.”

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The last time this procedure happened in Calgary was in 1996. It happened in Edmonton in December 2020.

“If you don’t go, they do have the right to arrest you. So, a person would be advised to go, at the same time you can also plead your case to the court. For example, if somebody had a significant surgery in the next couple of days, they’d like to be able to be released but jury duty in Canada is an obligation,” said Denis.

“The problem is if this power doesn’t actually exist the potential exists for [criminal trials] to be completely thrown out, charges to be thrown out, and potentially a guilty person to go free on the basis of a long delay,” added Denis.