Canada Case Law

R. v. Shedden

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The record provided reasonable and probable grounds to believe drugs would be found at the residence based on multiple observed drug transactions and repeated returns to the residence, supporting a reasonable inference that it was used as a stash house; therefore the search warrant was valid and the appeal is dismissed despite any trial judge misstatement or brief reasons.

Source excerpt

• Search warrant
• Reasonable and probable grounds
• Search and seizure
• Confidential informant
• Stash house

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R. v. Flintroy

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Sentencing reasons for Ms. Flintroy on guilty pleas to drug-trafficking offences. The court imposed a 20-month conditional sentence, followed by 12 months' probation.

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking
• Conditional sentence
• Gladue factors and rehabilitation
• Ancillary orders (weapons, dna)
• Drug-trafficking-sentencing
• Conditional-sentence

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R. v. Brown

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

On a s. 525 detention review, the court ordered Fabian Yul Brown released on strict bail conditions, finding continued detention was not justified on tertiary or secondary grounds.

• Detention review
• Bail conditions
• Tertiary grounds
• Secondary grounds
• Section 525 timing
• Bail-review

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R. v. Fisher

Court

Nova Scotia Provincial Court

On the totality of the circumstances the informant's July 5, 2018 eyewitness tip combined with prior corroboration of neutral details provided Detective Constable Moody with objectively reasonable and probable grounds to arrest Mr. Fisher without a warrant; the arrest was lawful, the evidence was admissible, and the defendant was found guilty of the charged offence.

Source excerpt

• Warrantless arrest
• Informant reliability
• Reasonable and probable grounds
• Corroboration of tips
• Exclusion of evidence (s.24(2))
• Search and seizure

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R. v. Leblanc

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The court accepted a s.8 breach occurred but, applying the s.24(2) framework with deference to the trial judge and noting the subsequently obtained valid warrant, declined to exclude the evidence; on the evidence as a whole (exclusive control, user credentials, transfer from external device, expert evidence of folder creation, indicative folder names, and attempted deletion) the only reasonable inference was that the appellant had possession of the child pornography beyond a reasonable doubt.

Source excerpt

• Search and seizure
• Section 8 charter
• Exclusion of evidence s.24(2)
• Possession of child pornography
• Child pornography offences
• Digital forensics

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R. v. Emery

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

After guilty pleas to drug trafficking counts, the court imposed three concurrent three-year sentences, credited 299 days of pre-trial custody, and ordered probation and ancillary relief.

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking
• Fentanyl and opioid public health crisis
• Pre-sentence custody credit (s.719(3.1) code)
• Dna order (s.487.051 code)
• Firearms prohibition (s.109 code)
• S.24(2) charter exclusion of evidence

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R. v. Hungwe

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The cumulative effect of the trial judge's extensive, skeptical questioning of defence witnesses together with extemporaneous, unscripted remarks in the jury charge created a reasonable appearance of bias and irretrievably compromised the fairness of the trial; deficiencies in trier instructions and omission of a formal prior consistent statement instruction were not, on the facts, fatal, but cumulative judicial conduct required quashing convictions and ordering a new trial.

Source excerpt

• Fair trial
• Judicial impartiality
• Judge questioning witnesses
• Jury selection
• Challenge for cause
• Prior consistent statements

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R. v. Swaby

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal granted the Crown leave to appeal a summary conviction sentence appeal that had found the 90-day minimum for child pornography unconstitutional under s. 12.

• Mandatory minimum sentences
• Section 12 charter - cruel and unusual punishment
• Section 163.1(4)(b) criminal code
• Leave to appeal under s. 839
• Mandatory-minimum-sentences
• Section-12-charter

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R. v. McKinnon

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court held that the arrests of Vu and McKinnon were lawful, and that the searches and seizures incidental to those arrests were also lawful.

• Search incident to arrest
• Reasonable and probable grounds to arrest
• Section 8 charter
• Section 24(2) exclusion
• Standing to challenge search
• Investigative detention

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R. v. Welsh

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court upheld admission of the statements obtained by the Obeah undercover operation: the operation did not infringe s.2(a) or s.15 in any non-trivial way, common law privilege was not established under Gruenke, the conduct did not amount to dirty tricks or engage s.7 (pre-detention), and even if Charter breaches existed s.24(2) favoured admission; the in camera process and any procedural irregularity did not prejudice the appellants or create reasonable apprehension of bias given remedial disclosure; severance of Welsh was not required because editing and clear limiting instructions plus…

Source excerpt

• Undercover operations
• Freedom of religion (s.2(a))
• Equality (s.15)
• Section 1 justification
• Section 24(2) exclusion of evidence
• Common law privilege (religious/pastoral)

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