What constitutes “substantial risk” under s. 753.2 of the Criminal Code of Canada?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from J.W.R. v British Columbia (Attorney General), 2017 BCSC 1272 (CanLII):

At the same time I note that the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., defines “substantial” as “real and tangible rather than imaginary” and defines “risk” as “the possibility that something unpleasant will happen.” Based on the authorities referred to above, and the scheme and purpose of Part XXIV of the Criminal Code, it is clear s. 753.2 is focused on “risk”, and that substantial risk means a real, not imaginary, risk of the possibility of physical or psychological harm to other persons that is beyond the merely trivial or annoying. (See Winko v. British Columbia (Forensic Psychiatric Institute), 1999 CanLII 694 (SCC), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 625 at para. 62.) Substantial risk to reoffend does not mean a certainty to reoffend.

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