Police Want to Interview You? Your Right to Silence in Canada (2026)

If police have contacted you about a criminal investigation, the single most important thing you can do before you say a word is understand which situation you are actually in. Are you a witness? A person of interest? A suspect? Detained? Arrested? Each one changes what police can ask, what you have to answer, and what you should say. This guide walks through the law as it actually applies in BC and what to do step by step.

Detained, Arrested, or Free to Go? Knowing the Difference Changes Everything

The first thing to figure out in any encounter with police is your legal status. Three possibilities:

You are free to go. Police are speaking with you but have not detained you. You have no obligation to answer questions, no obligation to identify yourself in most situations, and you can walk away. The right thing to do is to confirm it: “Am I free to leave?” If yes, leave.

You are detained. Detention can be physical (handcuffs, a hand on your shoulder) or psychological (a reasonable person would feel they are not free to walk away). Once detained, your Section 10(a) Charter rights kick in: police must promptly inform you of the reasons for detention. Your Section 10(b) right to counsel also kicks in. You have the right to call a lawyer before any further questioning.

You are under arrest. Arrest is the most serious form of detention. Police must tell you what you are being arrested for, advise you of your right to counsel, and provide a reasonable opportunity to exercise that right before questioning continues. Anything you say after arrest, before you have spoken with a lawyer, is at high risk of being used against you.

The first question to ask, calmly and clearly, is: “Am I being detained or arrested?” If yes, ask why. If no, ask: “Am I free to leave?”

Your Right to Speak to a Lawyer Before Anything Else (Section 10(b))

Section 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms gives you the right to retain and instruct counsel without delay on detention or arrest, and to be informed of that right. This is not a courtesy. It is a constitutional protection, and police interviews that ignore it can collapse the Crown’s case.

What Section 10(b) actually requires:

• Police must inform you of your right to counsel as soon as practicable on detention or arrest.
• Police must give you a reasonable opportunity to actually contact a lawyer. That usually means a private phone call from the police station.
• Police must hold off on questioning until you have had the chance to speak with counsel. They cannot start the interview and then say “we’ll let you call later.”
• You are entitled to call a specific lawyer of your choice if you have one. If you cannot reach them, police must give you a chance to call Legal Aid BC duty counsel.

The right is to speak with a lawyer, not to have one present during the interview. Canadian law does not give you the right to a lawyer in the interview room itself. That is why the call before the interview is so important: it is your one chance to get strategic advice before anything is recorded.

What to Say to Police: The Exact Words That Protect You

Whether you are at your front door, in your car, at the police station, or in an interview room, the same handful of phrases protect you. Memorize them.

“Am I being detained or arrested?” Forces police to clarify your legal status. Their answer tells you which Charter rights have engaged.

“Am I free to leave?” If you are not detained, this confirms you can walk away. If they say no, you are at minimum detained.

“I want to speak to a lawyer.” Invokes Section 10(b). Police are required to stop questioning until you have had that opportunity. Repeat this if questioning continues.

“I do not consent to a search.” If police want to search your phone, your bag, your vehicle, or your home, this is the line. Even if they search anyway, your refusal preserves Charter arguments later.

“I am exercising my right to silence. I will speak with my lawyer first.” Use this when police continue asking questions after you have invoked counsel. It removes any ambiguity.

That is the entire script. You do not have to be rude. You do not have to argue. You do not have to explain why you are not answering. You just have to say these words, calmly and clearly, and then stay silent.

When Police Are Asking as a Witness, Not a Suspect

Sometimes police really do just want information from a witness, not a confession from a suspect. The trouble is that you cannot always tell which one is happening, and a “witness interview” can become a suspect interview the moment you say something inconvenient. The safer path:

Confirm what the interview is about before you agree to attend. A simple question by phone or email: “What specifically did you want to discuss?” Police are not always required to tell you, but most will give a one-line answer. If they decline to say, that is a signal.

Ask whether you are a suspect. Direct question: “Am I a person of interest in this investigation?” Police are not required to answer truthfully, but the answer (and the way it is delivered) gives you information.

Do not feel pressured to meet the police’s timetable. If they want you to come in immediately, ask to reschedule. You are entitled to make time to consult a lawyer first.

Have a lawyer review your situation before the interview. A 15-minute call with a defence lawyer before a witness interview is cheap insurance. Witness statements lock in evidence for trial. If your account changes later, the original statement gets used to impeach you.

When You Are, or Might Be, the Person of Interest

If you have any reason to think police suspect you of an offence – a phone call asking specific questions about your whereabouts, a knock at the door, a “we just want your side of the story” pitch – the default is to invoke the right to silence and call a lawyer before anything else.

Critical facts to keep in mind:

• There is no requirement that you give any statement. A large share of criminal convictions in Canada involve confessions or statements that the Crown would otherwise have struggled to obtain. Many of those statements were given by people who thought they were “just clearing things up.”
• There is no requirement that you report to the police station. If you have not been arrested, you cannot be compelled to appear for an interview. Polite refusal is your right.
• Police are allowed to lie during an interview. They can claim to have evidence they do not have, claim that a co-accused has implicated you, or imply that cooperation will lead to leniency. None of that is a lie they have to retract later.
• The “lawyer review” pitch is not real. Officers sometimes suggest that giving a statement now will make things easier later. It almost never does. The defence position is built on the disclosure, not on whether you cooperated at the front end.

Speak with a criminal defence lawyer before the interview. Julian regularly advises people who have been asked to attend a police interview and prepares them for what to expect and what to say.

What Police Can and Can’t Do During an Interview

Police are trained interviewers. Knowing the rules they work under helps you keep your bearings if you decide (after consulting a lawyer) to participate.

What police can do:

• Record the interview (audio and video). In most BC police facilities, all interviews are recorded.
• Use the Reid technique or similar interview methods, which involve building rapport, presenting evidence (real or fabricated), and using minimization tactics.
• Lie about the strength of their evidence or what other witnesses have said.
• Conduct lengthy interviews. There is no fixed time limit. Detainees have been interviewed for many hours.
• Re-engage you in conversation after you have called a lawyer, as long as they pause and re-caution if you indicate you want to stop.

What police can’t do:

• Continue questioning before you have had a reasonable opportunity to call counsel under Section 10(b).
• Use physical force, threats, or promises of leniency to obtain a statement. Statements obtained that way are inadmissible under the confessions rule.
• Refuse to record the interview if you ask them to.
• Stop you from leaving if you are not detained or arrested.

Can Your Silence Be Used Against You? The Short Answer

This is the question people are most worried about. The short answer is: not in the way you fear, but the law is more nuanced than “you can never have silence used against you.”

Post-detention silence is constitutionally protected. Under Section 7 of the Charter and the principle in R v Hebert, your decision to remain silent after detention cannot be used as evidence of guilt at trial. Crown is not allowed to invite a jury to draw an adverse inference from your silence.

Pre-detention silence is more complicated. If police speak with you before detention, and you remain silent, that silence is not protected in the same way. In limited circumstances, a court can permit Crown to introduce evidence about pre-detention silence as part of the overall narrative. The Supreme Court’s decision in R v Turcotte set out the framework, and these arguments come up in trial.

What does this mean in practice? Invoke your right to silence the moment you have reason to suspect police are investigating you. Once you have invoked it, your silence is protected. Trying to be helpful “off the record” before formally invoking the right creates exposure that does not exist once you have made your position clear.

Police Want to Talk to You in Vernon, Kelowna, or the Okanagan?

If police have called, knocked at your door, or asked you to come in for an interview, the first move is to call a criminal defence lawyer. Julian Van Der Walle provides free, confidential consultations before any police interview. The earlier the call, the more options you have.