Canada Case Law

R. v. Mohamed

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court held that the trial judge correctly applied the Edwards factors and the totality of the evidence to conclude the appellant lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy and thus standing to challenge the search; Jones does not compel acceptance of the Crown's ITO where the applicants presented contrary evidence; separately, the trial judge properly applied the Villaroman circumstantial‑evidence test and reasonably concluded that guilt was the only reasonable inference, so the conviction stands.

Source excerpt

• Standing to challenge search warrant
• Reasonable expectation of privacy
• Circumstantial evidence
• Possession for purpose of trafficking
• Unreasonable verdict standard

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R. v. Bain

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The application judge did not err. The alternative-location information was not sufficiently cogent to undermine the affiant's assertion of residence or to require cross-examination; the CI#1 text was a general comment not related to the investigation and its omission did not amount to an attempt to mislead; the affidavit contained detailed, corroborated information sufficient to justify the warrant. Accordingly the warrant was not to be quashed and the appeal was dismissed.

Source excerpt

• Warrant issuance
• Informant reliability
• Cross-examination of affiant
• Redaction/excision of informant information

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R. v. Bentley

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court upheld the search warrant on review, rejected the s. 8 challenge, found a s. 10(b) delay in access to counsel, and refused automatic excision.

• S.8 charter search and seizure
• S.10(b) right to counsel
• S.24(2) exclusion of evidence
• Information to obtain (ito) sufficiency and sourcing
• Review of search warrant (garofoli/araujo standard)
• Confidential informants

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R. v. Jodoin

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The general warrant was properly issued because the investigative technique required prospective conditional execution to link drugs to the accused, a procedure not contemplated by a conventional CDSA search warrant; there was no evasion of a more stringent statutory regime and the statutory requirements of s.487.01 were satisfied.

Source excerpt

• General warrants
• S.487.01 criminal code
• Cdsa s.11
• Prospective/contingent searches
• Sneak and peek warrants
• R. v. telus precedent

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R. v. Nicholson

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court accepted a joint submission and imposed a 17-month conditional sentence on a police officer who pleaded guilty to breach of trust involving informants and warrant-related conduct.

• Breach of trust by public officer
• Joint submission on sentence
• Conditional sentence order
• Informant handling
• Abuse of process/search warrant taint
• Breach-of-trust

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R. v. Eakin

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court dismissed a defence application for a voir dire challenging the facial sufficiency of an ITO and search warrant, finding the application lacked a reasonable prospect of success.

• Facial validity of information to obtain (ito)
• Section 8 charter rights
• Voir dire procedure
• Discretion to refuse voir dire
• Reasonable and probable grounds
• Voir-dire

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R. v. Parsley

Court

Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal

The trial judge erred by applying a microscopic, piecemeal review and substituting his view for that of the issuing justice; after excising irrelevant material the ITO contained sufficient credible and reliable information from two independent informants corroborated by police investigation to establish reasonable and probable grounds, so there was no s.8 breach; the acquittal based on exclusion of the search evidence was therefore set aside and the matter remitted for trial.

Source excerpt

• Validity of search warrant
• Informant reliability and corroboration
• Reasonable and probable grounds
• Review of information to obtain (ito)
• Section 24(2) charter exclusion (grant factors)

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R. v. Quindipan

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court upheld a DNA warrant but found a s. 10(b) breach in the police interview process, excluding the statement and drive-around evidence under Grant.

• S.10(b) right to counsel
• Dna warrant under s.487.05
• Exclusion of evidence (grant test)
• Implementation duty of police
• Polygraph as non-routine procedure
• Right-to-counsel

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R. v. Hugh

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court held that some police observations breached s. 8 and were excised from the ITOs, but valid grounds still supported the warrants and the seized evidence was admissible.

• Section 8 unreasonable search and seizure
• Section 24(2) exclusion of evidence
• Consent to search
• Third-party consent
• Strata common property status
• Duty of full, fair and frank disclosure in itos

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R. v. Brade

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court held the information to obtain a search warrant was insufficient, declared the warrant invalid, and found a s. 8 Charter breach, reserving s. 24(2) subm

• Sufficiency of information to obtain warrant
• Informant reliability and corroboration
• Expert behavioural opinion in warrant applications
• Exclusion of evidence under s.24(2)
• Application of morelli/campbell jurisprudence
• Search-warrant-sufficiency

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