S 684(1) Assignments and Good Faith

Section 684(1) of the Criminal Code  allows the Court to assign counsel to act on behalf of an appellant on an appeal.  The question to be decide is do the interests of justice require such assignment. The Court notes:

[10]       Clearly, it would not be in the interests of justice to allow an appellant to abuse the process by which criminal appeals are publically funded, either through the Legal Aid process or through a s. 684 order.  In my view, conduct intended to precipitate a breakdown in the client-solicitor relationship to be followed by an application for the appointment of new counsel, would be an abuse of the public funding process.  If the circumstances before the court supported the conclusion that the appellant's conduct toward his former counsel that led to the breakdown in their relationship was intended by the appellant to have that effect so that the appellant could seek out a new counsel at public expense, a s. 684 order would not be in the "interests of justice".