Canada Case Law

R. v. Dinh

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

The Court dismissed the appeal: the authorizing officer had objectively reasonable and probable grounds for the warrantless arrest based on a corroborated Crime Stoppers tip and surveillance; the initial 47‑minute delay in facilitating counsel was reasonable in all the circumstances; although the trial judge erred in parts of his s.24(2) assessment of seriousness, a fresh balancing of Grant factors still favoured admission because the impact on the accused was minimal and the drug evidence was reliable and central to the Crown's case.

Source excerpt

• Warrantless arrest
• Section 9 arbitrary detention
• Section 10(b) right to counsel
• Section 24(2) exclusion of evidence
• Reasonable and probable grounds
• Informer privilege

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McCormack v. Evans

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court of Appeal upheld dismissal of a civil action challenging wiretap-based charges, holding the intercepts were admissible and the police had reasonable grounds.

• Malicious prosecution
• Negligent investigation
• Misfeasance in public office
• Wiretap admissibility
• Informer privilege
• Section 8 charter

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Named Persons v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

British Columbia Court of Appeal

Appeal dismissed on tort awards and mitigation (substantive reasons redacted); cross-appeal allowed: Charter damages awarded under s.24(1) were set aside because the trial judge erred by finding a s.7 infringement without identifying a specific principle of fundamental justice and, in any event, tort remedies sufficed to vindicate the rights; trial reasons will not be published and the sealed trial judgment must be redacted before any limited publication.

Source excerpt

• Negligent disclosure
• Section 7 charter
• Section 24(1) damages
• Informer privilege
• Publication bans
• Canada evidence act s.37

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Lill v. Canada (Attorney General)

Court

Federal Court of Appeal

The Federal Court correctly applied the reasonableness standard to the Assistant Commissioner’s grievance decision; although part of that decision was found unreasonable for improperly delegating assessment of reliability, the Federal Court properly exercised its discretion to refuse remedial redetermination because remittal would serve no practical purpose given other corroborating material, elapsed time and parallel proceedings; the appeal is dismissed.

Source excerpt

• Grievance review
• Standard of review - reasonableness
• Informer privilege
• Procedural fairness
• Delegation to experts
• Remedy - remittal discretion

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McCartie v. The King

Court

Tax Court of Canada

The Tax Court has jurisdiction to impose section 24 Charter remedies in respect of Charter breaches determined by another court; applying a Grant analysis the appropriate remedy in this Tax Court proceeding is to exclude and preclude respondent from introducing or relying on any evidence first collected from the search and seizure of the McCarties’ home, and to exclude evidence collected from the second audit (and evidence subsequently obtained as a result of those breaches) for the purposes of establishing tax quantum, reopening statute-barred years, and supporting penalties, with limited pe…

Source excerpt

• Search and seizure
• Charter remedies (s.24)
• Exclusion of evidence
• Informer privilege
• Statute-barred reassessment
• Gross negligence penalty

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Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. Named Person

Court

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court upheld informer privilege, rejected any “secret trial” characterization, and ordered partial disclosure of a redacted trial judgment.

• Informer privilege
• Open court principle
• Sealing orders
• In camera proceedings
• Publication bans
• Abuse of process

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R. v. Ruthowsky

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

Conviction appeal dismissed: the trial judge’s W.(D.) instructions and other rulings were adequate when read as a whole; admission of informer-identification evidence was not unfair given available challenges to credibility and judge’s Vetrovec cautions; late disclosure did not demonstrably prejudice the defence; sentencing decision (13 years and $250,000 fine in lieu) was within discretion and not demonstrably unfit, but time to pay the fine must run one year from the appellant’s release from custody.

Source excerpt

• Bribery
• Breach of trust
• Obstruction of justice
• Trafficking
• Jury instructions (w.(d.))
• Informer privilege

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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

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R. v. Chaisson

Court

Supreme Court of Nova Scotia

The Crown's application for an undertaking requiring defence counsel to retain custody and prevent the accused from having copies is dismissed because the Crown failed to adduce case-specific evidentiary basis showing a reasonable possibility the accused would misuse the disclosed material; speculative risk is insufficient to justify restricting disclosure handling under Stinchcombe and related principles.

Source excerpt

• Disclosure
• Informer privilege
• Section 7 charter
• Section 11(d) charter
• Undertakings for disclosure

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R. v. Van Buskirk

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court granted a stage-one McNeil/O'Connor disclosure application in part, finding most requested records about former officer Rob Ferris were likely relevant.

• Third‑party disclosure (mcneil)
• O'connor production regime
• Stinchcombe disclosure obligations
• Abuse of process
• Judicial authorizations and warrants
• Informer privilege

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