R. v. Banks Island Gold Inc.

R. v. Banks Island Gold Inc.

Where the predominant purpose of state attendance was regulatory and there was no reasonable expectation of privacy, observational evidence and statutorily compelled regulatory reports are admissible; when questioning shifts into an inquisitorial/adversarial investigation the state must clearly suspend regulatory compellability and give adequate caution addressing that suspension, failing which compelled statements or portions may be excluded under s.7; tainting of later statements requires a contextual temporal/causal analysis; complexity that renders a case "particularly complex" can justify delay beyond Jordan ceilings if Crown had and followed a concrete plan to minimize delay.

Citation
2020 BCSC 167
Parties
Crown: Regina; Defendant/company: Banks Island Gold Inc.; Defendant/appellant: Benjamin Mossman; Defendant/appellant: Dirk Meckert
Court
Supreme Court of British Columbia
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
11 February 2020
Procedural Posture
Criminal (regulatory Offences) / Appeal From Provincial Court – Voir Dire and Jordan Application; New Trial Ordered by Supreme Court of British Columbia
Outcome
Appeal allowed in part and dismissed in part; trial judge's partial voir dire rulings modified; new trial ordered
Legal Topics
Charter S.7 Self Incrimination, Charter S.8 Search and Seizure, Charter S.10 Detention and Right to Counsel, Admissibility of Compelled Regulatory Statements, Statutorily Compelled Reports, Voir Dire Procedure, Tainting of Statements, R. V. Jordan Delay Analysis
Source Language
English
Constitutional Law Criminal Law Environmental Law Administrative Law Fisheries Law Mines Regulation Charter S.7 Self Incrimination Charter S.8 Search and Seizure +6 more

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Parties

Regina

Crown

Banks Island Gold Inc.

Defendant/company

Benjamin Mossman

Defendant/appellant

Dirk Meckert

Defendant/appellant

Procedural Posture

Criminal (regulatory Offences) / Appeal From Provincial Court – Voir Dire and Jordan Application; New Trial Ordered by Supreme Court of British Columbia

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether observational evidence obtained during a regulatory inspection was protected by s.8 and inadmissible
  2. 2 Whether warned/statutorily compelled statements of July 9 and July 15, 2015 were admissible under s.7 and s.10 of the Charter
  3. 3 Whether regulatory inspectors had crossed from inspection to adversarial criminal investigation (the "Rubicon") and when that triggers Charter protections

Ratio Decidendi

Where the predominant purpose of state attendance was regulatory and there was no reasonable expectation of privacy, observational evidence and statutorily compelled regulatory reports are admissible; when questioning shifts into an inquisitorial/adversarial investigation the state must clearly suspend regulatory compellability and give adequate caution addressing that suspension, failing which compelled statements or portions may be excluded under s.7; tainting of later statements requires a contextual temporal/causal analysis; complexity that renders a case "particularly complex" can justify delay beyond Jordan ceilings if Crown had and followed a concrete plan to minimize delay.

Court Disposition

Appeal allowed in part and dismissed in part; trial judge's partial voir dire rulings modified; new trial ordered

Orders

  • Observational evidence obtained July 9, 2015 admitted
  • Spill Report (July 22, 2015) admitted