From the food court to people’s court: Calgarian recounts surprise jury summons experience

From the food court to the people’s court, Matthew Desmarais was on lunch break and wanted to be served some grub, instead, he was served a surprise jury summons.

Desmarais was one of the dozens dragged from the CORE shopping centre in downtown Calgary and forced into jury duty last Thursday.

He explains he was walking through Holt Renfrew to get to Olly Fresco’s to get food, and he ran into an Alberta Sheriff who handed him a piece of paper.

“I thought for whatever reason it was just going to be something about floods maybe, or a warning about what was going on in the area. And, he’s like ‘you’ve just been summoned for jury duty,’ and I kind of laughed, I thought he was joking, and he was like ‘No, you have to come with us right now,'” Desmarais told CityNews.

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“I wasn’t even really able to process what was happening until you’re sitting in the courtroom, and you’re like how did I even end up here? I was just going for lunch.”

The court had run out of potential jurors from the pool of people who showed up, so the Judge enacted section 642(1) of the Criminal Code, the ‘talesman procedure’, and Sheriffs were told to go out and find some more people to participate in the jury.

“The judge kind of framed it when he came in, and he apologized for having to take that measure. I think a lot of people were more frustrated than I was, but it was kind of taking it in stride, [and] he made a good point where it’s like, it’s kind of our duty to go when we’re summoned,” Desmarais added.

Last week, 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 could be seen frustrated and reluctantly following the officers after being handed the summons.
Desmarais says one woman told the Sheriffs she had to go grab a drink and disappeared.

In a statement to CityNews, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s office said in this specific case, they had 80 potential jurors but it wasn’t enough to select two juries. They were still short of 6 jurors.

“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,” his office said.

“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.”

The last time the ‘talesman procedure’ was enacted in Calgary was in 1996, while Edmonton saw it in 2020.