The cuffs go on in a parking lot on Whyte Avenue, or in your own kitchen, or at the side of the Henday with the lights behind you. Whatever you expected that day, it wasn’t this. The officer is talking, and you are hearing about half of it.
The short answer: say that you want to speak to a lawyer, say nothing else about what happened, and use the phone call. Within the next 24 hours, you will either be released by police with a date to come back, or taken before a judge, where your bail hearing starts. What you say and do in the hours before that matters more than almost anything that happens afterward. Here is what the law requires of the police, what it requires of you, and what to do with the time.
What the police have to tell you
Section 10 of the Charter gives everyone who is arrested or detained the right to be told promptly why, and the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay and to be told that the right exists. In practice that means the officer must tell you the reason for the arrest, tell you that you can speak to a lawyer, and tell you that free legal advice is available right now, at any hour, through duty counsel. The officer is also required to give you a reasonable chance to use that right, in private, before questioning begins.
If you have not been told why you are under arrest, ask. If you have been told and did not understand, say so. These are not formalities. A statement taken from someone who was not properly informed of these rights, or who asked for a lawyer and was questioned anyway, can be excluded from evidence at trial.
Your phone call
You can call any lawyer you choose, if you have one or know a name, and the police must give you a reasonable chance to reach that lawyer. If you cannot, or do not have one, there is the free 24 hour duty counsel line, which police in Alberta must tell you about and give you access to on request. Either way, the call is private. If an officer stays in the room, say that you want privacy for the call.
Use the call to get advice, not to tell your story. A duty counsel lawyer will explain your rights, tell you what to expect over the next day, and almost always tell you the same thing: do not give a statement. After the call, the police are allowed to question you. You are allowed to say nothing. There is no version of “off the record” in an interview room, and a conversation with a cellmate can end up in front of a judge. Generally, the Crown cannot use your silence as evidence of guilt, and the Supreme Court has said so. The narrow exceptions mostly arise from how the defence runs the trial, which is one more reason to leave that to your lawyer.
Released or held: what happens next
Most people arrested in Edmonton for less serious matters are released by the police themselves, either on an appearance notice or on an undertaking with conditions, with a first court date some weeks out. Section 503 of the Criminal Code actually requires an officer to release you before the 24 hours run out if continued detention is no longer necessary and the charge is not one reserved for the superior court.
If you are held, the same section requires that you be taken before a justice without unreasonable delay and in any event within 24 hours, or as soon as possible if no justice is available in that window. In Alberta, for most charges, that first step is a bail hearing before a justice of the peace at the Court of Justice Hearing Office, conducted by video or teleconference from the police facility. The Hearing Office sits from 8 a.m. to midnight, 365 days a year, so an overnight arrest usually means a morning hearing. The Crown may ask for the hearing to be put over, for up to three clear days without your consent, which is one of the reasons to get your own lawyer involved as early as you can. The starting point at that hearing is that you are presumed innocent and the default is release, so in most cases the Crown must justify why you should be held. For some charges the onus flips and you must show why you should be released, which is one more reason to have a lawyer at the first hearing.
What to do with the hours in between
Give the police the name of the lawyer you want, even if it is just a name you remember from a friend. Memorize one phone number of someone on the outside who can start making calls, because your phone will be in a property bag. Do not contact the complainant, directly or through anyone else, even to apologize, even to explain. Breaching a no-contact condition is a separate charge and it is one of the easiest for the Crown to prove. Do not post about it. Do not delete anything either; your lawyer will want everything preserved.
If you are released, read the conditions on the paper before you leave the building, and ask about any you do not understand. People walk out of police headquarters and breach within a day because they went home to the address they were told to stay away from.
What the first court appearance in Edmonton actually is
For adult charges, the first appearance is at the Alberta Court of Justice in the Edmonton Law Courts building downtown. It is procedural. Nobody decides guilt that day, and you will not be asked to explain yourself. The Crown usually provides initial disclosure at or shortly after that appearance, meaning the evidence it intends to rely on, and the matter is adjourned so that you and your lawyer can review it. The decisions that actually shape the case, including whether to seek a resolution, elect a mode of trial, or challenge how the evidence was obtained, come after that review and should not be rushed into at the counter.
If you have been arrested anywhere in the Edmonton area, Purser Law offers a free 30-minute consultation and takes calls from people in exactly this position. The earlier you start the conversation, the more options you keep open.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to give the police my name?
If you are under arrest, or an officer has grounds to charge or ticket you for an offence, yes. You must identify yourself, and refusing can be charged as obstruction. If you are driving, provincial law also requires you to produce your licence, registration and insurance. If you are only being detained for investigation and have not been arrested, there is no general legal duty in Alberta to answer questions, including your name, although refusing tends to prolong the encounter. Beyond identifying yourself, you are not required to answer questions about the allegation, and it is almost always wiser not to.
Can the police search my phone?
Sometimes, without a warrant. The Supreme Court decided in R v Fearon, 2014 SCC 77, that police may search a phone as part of a lawful arrest, but only within strict limits: the search has to be genuinely connected to the arrest, limited to what that purpose requires, and documented in detail. Outside those limits they need a warrant or your consent, which is why they may ask for it. You can decline, and you are not required to give up your passcode. Politely refusing consent is not obstruction.
Will I be out the same day?
Often, yes, because the police release most people on less serious charges without a hearing. If you are held, the 24 hour rule applies, though a bail hearing can be adjourned at the Crown’s request for up to three clear days. Having a lawyer ready to speak to release at the first opportunity is the single biggest factor in how long that takes.
About the author: Stacey Purser is the founder of Purser Law, a criminal defence and appeals firm in Edmonton. She was called to the Alberta bar in 2016 and the Northwest Territories bar in 2025, holds an LLM in Criminal Law and Procedure from Osgoode Hall Law School, and is a sessional instructor at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law.
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