Assault Lawyers Calgary

If you have been arrested for an assault offence in Calgary, the actions you take immediately will dictate the future of your case.

At Strategic Criminal Defence, our team has defended hundreds, and likely thousands, of these cases, and we understand the stress of the situation. We recommend contacting a lawyer immediately to protect your rights and craft your defence. Contact us to receive a free, no-obligation consultation.

The 3 Things You Must Do Immediately

According to Michael Oykhman, the standard advice for anyone calling from custody is straightforward:

• Indicate you want to speak to a lawyer.
• Call a lawyer immediately.
• Follow your lawyer’s advice without exception.

Important: Do not “wing it” or give a statement to “not look guilty”. Choosing to remain silent or requesting a lawyer cannot be used against you in court to draw an inference of guilt. Everything you say to the police can be used to solidify their case, but your own exonerating statements often cannot be played in court to prove your innocence.

Understanding Assault Charges in Calgary

In Canada, “Simple Assault” involves applying force to someone without their consent, or the threat of doing so. However, the legal consequences in the 2026 legal climate extend far beyond potential jail time.

Best-Case vs. Worst-Case Scenarios

• Worst-Case Scenario: The biggest consequence is often the imposition of a permanent criminal record. This will be flagged on any employment criminal record check or vulnerable sector check for volunteering (such as at your child’s school). It can also lead to U.S. border inadmissibility and severe immigration consequences for non-citizens.
• Best-Case Scenario: Securing entry into Diversion Programs that result in no criminal record. Options include the Alternative Measures Program, Mental Health Diversion, or Peace Bonds.

How Our Lawyers Help With an Assault Charge

A Strategic Criminal Defence lawyer can make a huge difference in your case. 

• Before charges are even filed, they can give you important legal advice about what to say and what not to say. They protect you from providing unhelpful information and help you talk to police without making mistakes.
• We will gather evidence that supports your side of the story, like security camera footage or medical records. Sometimes, we bring in expert witnesses like doctors who can explain injuries in a way that helps your defence.
• The criminal justice system is complicated, but the assault lawyers on our team know all the steps and deadlines. In fact, our detailed guide on the Court Process in Calgary explains how we file important documents and represent you in court. If your file must go to trial, we will present your case, question witnesses, and make strong arguments to the judge and/or jury.

With the right Strategic Criminal Defence lawyer, you have a much better chance of beating assault charges.

What is the worst-case scenario for a first-time assault offender in Calgary?

The worst-case scenario for an assault charge is that the individual is convicted of the assault and sentenced to a harsher penalty than they might warrant, partly because the right information is not put in front of the judge for sentencing purposes.

In fact, it’s not the sentence often that is the worst-case scenario. It’s the imposition of the criminal record itself for an assault that can have the biggest consequence and is, in itself, the worst-case scenario.

Examples of Assault Charges

In Calgary, you can be charged with assault in the following situations: 

• Assault is when someone threatens, tries to, or actually uses force against someone else without their permission. This could mean hitting, pushing, or slapping someone.
• Assault with a Weapon: This is when someone attacks someone else and uses or threatens to use a weapon. For example, threatening someone with a kitchen knife or hitting them with a baseball bat.
• Assault Causing Bodily Harm: This charge applies when an assault causes injuries that seriously hurt the victim, such as, broken bones, or cuts that need stitches.

How will an assault conviction affect my employment or volunteer opportunities?

A criminal record for an assault will be flagged on any criminal record check for employment purposes. It will be flagged on any vulnerable sector check for volunteer purposes, especially people with children who want to be volunteers for their kids’ schools or extracurricular activities.

Anybody working in vulnerable sectors with children or with vulnerable populations will have assault charges flagged, which may make them ineligible for various types of employment.

Consequences of an Assault Charge

Getting charged with assault in Calgary comes with serious consequences that vary depending on the type of assault. 

• Simple assault, can be treated as less serious (summary) or more serious (indictable) offence: This is because it is a hybrid offence. For summary conviction, you could face up to 6 months in jail and fines up to $5,000. If prosecuted as an indictable offence, the maximum jail time increases to 5 years with no minimum sentence required. There is also no minimum fine amount set by law.
• Assault with a Weapon is also a hybrid offence: If treated as a summary offence, you could face up to 18 months in jail. As an indictable offence, you could face up to 10 years in prison. There is no minimum jail sentence in either case. Fines vary depending on the circumstances, with no set minimum.
• Assault Causing Bodily Harm, again a hybrid offence: This means summary conviction can result in up to 18 months in jail. If prosecuted as indictable, you could face up to 10 years in prison. There is no minimum sentence requirement.
• Aggravated Assault is strictly an indictable offence due to its seriousness: It carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison with no minimum sentence requirement.

For a deeper understanding of sentencing guidelines and potential outcomes, you can review our detailed article on Criminal Sentencing in Calgary.

Assault Charge Defences

If someone is accused of assault, they have the right to defend themselves in court. There are a number of legal defences that could help lower the charge or even get it thrown out altogether.  At Strategic Criminal Defence, we can help you learn about the defences that might be available to you from the very beginning.

Here are some ways you might be able to defend yourself against assault charges:

• Self-Defence: This is when someone uses reasonable force to keep themselves safe from harm. The accused must prove that they were really in danger of violence and used the right amount of force to protect themselves or someone else. If someone tried to hit you and you pushed them away to stop them, that could be self-defence. But, the amount of force used must be right for the threat. For instance, hitting someone over and over again after they only pushed you would probably be too much for a claim of self defence.
• Defending Others: This defence applies when someone uses force to keep someone else from getting hurt. To use this defence, you have to show that you had good reason to think that someone else was in danger and that you needed to step in. If you saw someone about to hit a child and stopped them, you could say you were defending others. Just like in self-defence, the amount of force used must match the threat.
• Consent means that the other person agreed to the touch. This defence works best when people agree to do something that involves physical contact, like sports or medical procedures. Hockey players, for instance, agree to some level of physical contact during a game. But there are limits to consent. Legally, a person cannot agree to serious bodily harm. The defence has to show that the person clearly agreed to the contact and that it didn’t go beyond what they agreed to.
• Accident: To use this defence, the person being accused must prove that they did not mean to touch the other person. For example, if you accidentally bumped into someone in a crowded place and they fell, people might think of this as an accident instead of an attack. This defence works best when there was no intent to hurt and no careless actions.
• Mistaken Identity: This defence says that the person who was accused of the crime is not the one who did it. For instance, if security camera footage shows that the person who is being accused was somewhere else when the attack happened, this could help prove that they were not the right person.

Assault Charge Investigation

When the Calgary police get a call about an assault, they begin to look into it very carefully.

• The officers first talk to the person who said they were attacked, asking a lot of questions about what happened, when it happened, where it happened, and who was there.
• The police also look for any visible injuries and may take pictures of them for evidence.
• The next step is for the police to find and talk to any witnesses who may have seen, or heard, what happened.
• Police also collect physical proof from the scene of the crime, such as, weapons, broken property, or things with DNA on them, such as, blood, or skin cells.
• Video from security cameras is very important in some cases of assault. Police will check nearby buildings, businesses, or traffic cameras to see if they caught the event on video. It’s also very important to have medical records. These records help show how bad the injuries were if someone went to the hospital after getting hurt.
• The police decide whether or not to press charges after getting all this information.

Bail Conditions for Assault Charges

People who are charged with assault usually have to follow a number of important bail conditions. 

• First, they usually have to stay away from the person they are accused of assaulting. This means they can’t talk to this person, send them a text, call them, or email them. They also can’t get close to the person’s home, school, or work.
• Second, a lot of people who are charged with assault can’t have guns while they’re out on bail. The court might tell them to turn over all of their guns to the police within a certain amount of time.
• Third, the court might make the person who is accused check in with a bail officer on a regular basis. These check-ins could happen once a week or once a month, depending on the case. At these meetings, the person must prove that they are following all of the bail conditions.
• Fourth, some people who have been accused of assault have to stay inside at night. The police may come to their house to make sure they are following this rule.

These rules stay in effect until the trial or sentencing hearing is over, or the court makes changes to them. If you break any of these rules, you could get arrested again and have your bail taken away. If bail is taken away, the person will have to stay in jail until their trial or sentencing.