Section 13 of the Charter is a protection directed against self-incrimination through the use of one’s previous testimony. The presumption of innocence underlies the right. Intrinsic to the right is that establishing the “case to meet” is the legal obligation of the Crown—“…it means specifically that the accused enjoys ‘the initial benefit of a right of silence’ and its corollary, protection against self-incrimination”: Dubois v. The Queen, supra at 532. By excluding the substantive admissibility of testimony from another proceeding, s. 13 protects individuals from being indirectly compelled to incriminate themselves.
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