Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Canadian Charter - Criminal law - Interception of communications - Search warrant - Unlawful search - Exclusion of evidence pursuant to s. 24(2) of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Whether Court of Appeal erred in law in excluding evidence of loaded prohibited weapon discovered as result of constitutional violation where there was no error of law in analysis and application of s. 24(2) of Charter by trial judge.

As part of an operation against drug trafficking, RCMP officers in Montréal executed a warrant authorizing them to intercept the Respondent’s private conversations. To do this, they installed listening devices in the Respondent’s car. After installing the devices, the officers discovered a hidden compartment containing a loaded firearm. The officers rendered the pistol unusable and placed it back where they had found it. One year later, the Respondent was arrested and charged with possessing a loaded prohibited firearm without holding the licences and authorizations required by law.

At trial, the Respondent argued that the officers had violated his rights. The trial judge found that the search was unlawful. However, she refused to exclude the evidence pursuant to s. 24(2) of the Charter on the basis that the officers did not believe they were exceeding their powers under the warrant. The issue is therefore whether the trial judge erred in admitting the weapon seized in the Respondent’s motor vehicle after finding that s. 8 of the Charter had been infringed.

A majority of the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, set aside the conviction and acquitted the Respondent. Côté J.A., dissenting, would have dismissed the appeal.