It has been established that the police must take some step to facilitate contact with counsel of choice. In R. v. Kumarasamy, Durno J. held that where the accused asks for specific counsel, there will be a breach if the police make no effort to facilitate contact with counsel of choice and simply refer the accused to duty counsel – even though the accused then fails to take advantage of duty counsel: para. 21. It has also been held that the police must take some step even where the accused only asks for specific counsel after consulting duty counsel – provided the accused was honestly attempting to obtain legal advice: R v. Keeley, [1996] O.J. No. 2307 (O.C.J.). At that stage there would be no need for the police to take further steps if they have already taken some good faith step to facilitate the right to counsel of choice: Richfield.
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