Canada Case Law

McCartie v. The King

Court

Tax Court of Canada

The Tax Court may impose s.24 Charter remedies in a civil tax appeal for Charter breaches found in related criminal proceedings; on these facts the respondent is prohibited from introducing or relying on any evidence first collected from the search and seizure at the McCarties' home to establish tax owing, to justify reassessments after the normal assessment period, or to support penalties; evidence first collected from the second audit (or first collected from the search) is excluded for penalty purposes; respondent's factual assumptions in its reply do not enjoy a presumption of correctness…

Source excerpt

• Section 24 remedies
• Search and seizure (s.8)
• Fair trial (s.11)
• Fundamental justice (s.7)
• Evidence exclusion
• Reassessment and statute-barred years

Read case analysis

R. v. Dhami

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court upheld the marihuana arrest and vehicle search, but found the heroin-related arrest unlawful and arbitrary. It also found an inadvertent s. 7 breach over counsel notice at a J.J.P. hearing.

• Arbitrary detention (s.9)
• Unreasonable search and seizure (s.8)
• Right to counsel (s.10)
• Fundamental justice (s.7)
• Exclusion of evidence (s.24(2))
• Warrantless arrest (s.495 criminal code)

Read case analysis

Ahani v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)

Court

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Ahani’s appeal, upholding the Minister’s danger opinion and finding no breach of fundamental justice on the record before it.

• Deportation
• Risk of torture
• Fundamental justice (s.7)
• Vagueness
• Freedom of expression
• Freedom of association

Read case analysis

United States of America v. Yang

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

Ss.32, 33 and 34 of the Extradition Act are constitutional; Parliament may admit foreign unsworn and hearsay evidence subject to statutory certification and other safeguards, and the extradition judge is not required by s.7 to impose a Canadian reliability threshold on evidence tendered by the requesting state though the judge must still determine whether the material suffices for committal under s.29 and may exclude evidence in exceptional abusive or utterly uninformative cases.

Source excerpt

• Admissibility of foreign evidence
• S.32‑34 extradition act constitutionality
• Hearsay and unsworn evidence
• Double criminality
• Record of the case
• Fundamental justice (s.7)

Read case analysis

R. v. Généreux

Court

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court held that the General Court Martial structure then in force breached s. 11(d) of the Charter and was not justified under s. 1.

• Independence of tribunal (s.11(d) charter)
• Section 1 justification (oakes test)
• Application of s.11 to military tribunals
• Search and seizure (s.8)
• Exclusion of evidence (s.24(2))
• Equality rights (s.15)

Read case analysis

Stelco Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Supreme Court of Canada

Appeal over s. 17 of the Combines Investigation Act dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada, with Wilson and Sopinka JJ. dissenting on s. 7 Charter grounds.

• Self‑incrimination
• Fundamental justice (s.7)
• Derivative evidence
• Administrative investigative powers (combines investigation act s.17)
• Charter limits and justification (ss.1,7,11(c),13)
• Self-incrimination

Read case analysis