Law360 Canada ( February 5, 2026, 9:34 AM EST) -- Appeal by Crown from stays of proceedings entered under s. 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for unreasonable delay. The respondents, Singh and Narang, were charged with drug trafficking offences following Project Cheetah (project), an 11-month interagency investigation into cross-border drug trafficking involving dozens of accused in multiple jurisdictions. Both respondents were part of the Ravi Group, alleged co-conspirators linked by a common supplier, overlapping transactions, and shared disclosure. The Crown proceeded by joint trial with two other co-accused. Disclosure was massive, over 86,000 files totalling 300 gigabytes, and required 14 months to complete. Scheduling challenges among multiple defence counsel caused a 107-day delay, and a 35-day adjournment was needed for defence review before electing mode of trial. The trial was ultimately set for March 2023, exceeding the Jordan ceiling by 116 days for Narang and 175 days for Singh after deductions. The application judge stayed the charges, finding no exceptional circumstances and concluding the Crown should have severed the trials, as the individual charges were straightforward. The Crown appealed, arguing the application judge erred by failing to deduct the 107-day joint-trial scheduling delay and by overlooking the structural complexity of the project, which justified the remaining delay. The Crown submitted that joint trials were strongly preferred and that severance would undermine truth-seeking and systemic efficiency....