R. v. Colegrove

R. v. Colegrove

The court held the applicant met the O'Connor 'likely relevance' threshold for the CSC materials; three undated PowerPoint slides prepared by the Department of Justice were protected by solicitor-client privilege and not producible, privilege was not waived, but the remaining documents were truly relevant and must be produced to the Crown and defence with narrowly tailored redactions to protect proprietary or security-sensitive information because the salutary effects of disclosure outweigh deleterious effects.

Citation
2022 NSSC 33
Parties
Prosecution: Her Majesty the Queen; Accused: Jeffrey Colegrove; Co Accused (watching Brief): Phillip Hickey
Court
Supreme Court of Nova Scotia
Jurisdiction
Canada
Judgment Date
11 January 2022
Procedural Posture
Criminal (conspiracy to Traffic; Related Charter S.7, S.8 and S.24 Applications) / Pre Trial Third Party Records (o'connor) Application and Voir Dire on Charter Remedies
Outcome
Partial production ordered: three Department of Justice PowerPoint documents held privileged and not produced; all other requested CSC materials ordered produced with specific redactions to protect proprietary and security-sensitive information.
Legal Topics
Interception of Communications, Third Party Records Disclosure (o'connor), Solicitor Client Privilege, Charter S.7, S.8, S.24 Remedies, Reasonable and Probable Grounds, Public Interest Privilege, Disclosure Obligations (stinchcombe/mc Neil)
Source Language
English
Criminal Law Constitutional Law Evidence Administrative/corrections Law Privacy Law Interception of Communications Third Party Records Disclosure (o'connor) Solicitor Client Privilege +4 more

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Parties

Her Majesty the Queen

Prosecution

Jeffrey Colegrove

Accused

Phillip Hickey

Co Accused (watching Brief)

Procedural Posture

Criminal (conspiracy to Traffic; Related Charter S.7, S.8 and S.24 Applications) / Pre Trial Third Party Records (o'connor) Application and Voir Dire on Charter Remedies

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether CSC training and audit materials are 'likely relevant' under O'Connor
  2. 2 Whether three PowerPoint documents are protected by solicitor-client privilege
  3. 3 Whether privilege was waived by references in audit or witness evidence

Ratio Decidendi

The court held the applicant met the O'Connor 'likely relevance' threshold for the CSC materials; three undated PowerPoint slides prepared by the Department of Justice were protected by solicitor-client privilege and not producible, privilege was not waived, but the remaining documents were truly relevant and must be produced to the Crown and defence with narrowly tailored redactions to protect proprietary or security-sensitive information because the salutary effects of disclosure outweigh deleterious effects.

Court Disposition

Partial production ordered: three Department of Justice PowerPoint documents held privileged and not produced; all other requested CSC materials ordered produced with specific redactions to protect proprietary and security-sensitive information.

Orders

  • Three specific PowerPoint presentation documents found to be protected by solicitor-client privilege and not producible.
  • CSC to produce remaining responsive documents to the Crown and defence subject to agreed/narrow redactions (remove proprietary company information, system architecture, email addresses and other security-sensitive details).