Does a judge have a duty to ensure that an accused receives a fair trial?

“Whether an accused is represented by counsel or not the basic duty of a trial judge is to ensure that he or she receives a fair trial”. Indeed, the weight of responsibility on the judge to ensure the trial is fair is even heavier where an accused is unrepresented. Although this responsibility does not extend to providing the same assistance as counsel would provide, nonetheless, the scope of the reasonable assistance a judge can extend to an unrepresented accused is wide. (See: R v. Rain, supra, at paras. 38-40).