Case information
Conduct a refined search of the Supreme Court of Canada database to obtain details on the status of a matter before the Court.
33965
Mark Whyte v. Her Majesty the Queen
(Ontario) (Criminal) (As of Right)
Docket
Judgments on applications for leave to appeal are rendered by the Court, but are not necessarily unanimous.
| Date | Proceeding | Filed By (if applicable) |
|---|---|---|
| 2011-11-08 | Transcript received, (34 pages) | |
| 2011-11-01 | Appeal closed | |
| 2011-10-24 | Formal judgment sent to the registrar of the court of appeal and all parties | |
| 2011-10-24 | Judgment on appeal and notice of deposit of judgment sent to all parties | |
| 2011-10-20 |
Judgment on the appeal rendered, De F Abe Ro Cro, The appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Number C51976, 2011 ONCA 24, dated October 19, 2010, was heard this day and the following judgment was rendered orally: DESCHAMPS J. – We are of the view that the Court of Appeal did not err in finding that, as a matter of law, “[s]ince the police had reasonable grounds, subjective and objective, to believe that the occupants of the vehicle were in possession of illegal firearms, the arrest of the occupants of the vehicle and search as an incident of the arrest were lawful. There was no violation of the respondent’s rights under ss. 8 and 9 of the Charter and the evidence should not have been excluded.” (2011 ONCA 24, 266 C.C.C. (3d) 5, at para. 32) The appeal is therefore dismissed. Dismissed |
|
| 2011-10-20 |
Hearing of the appeal, 2011-10-20, De F Abe Ro Cro Judgment rendered |
|
| 2011-10-20 | Acknowledgement and consent for video taping of proceedings, All parties consent | |
| 2011-10-20 | Respondent's condensed book, Rec'd in Court | Her Majesty the Queen |
| 2011-10-20 | Appellant's condensed book, rec'd in Court | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-10-17 | Supplemental document, (Further Supplementary Book of Authorities - sent to the judges Oct. 17/11), Completed on: 2011-10-18 | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-10-11 | Supplemental document, (Authorities), Completed on: 2011-10-11 | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-10-11 | Notice of appearance, Nathan Gorham will also be appearing | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-10-05 | Notice of appearance, Jennifer Woollcombe will be appearing | Her Majesty the Queen |
| 2011-09-06 | Correspondence received from, Gowling by email, re.: request for 2 reserved seats at the hearing | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-09-06 | Notice of appearance, Reid Rusonik will be present at hearing | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-08-29 | Notice of hearing sent to parties | |
| 2011-07-22 |
Appeal hearing scheduled, 2011-10-20, (start time 9:00am) Judgment rendered |
|
| 2011-05-11 | Appeal perfected for hearing | |
| 2011-04-26 | Respondent's book of authorities, Completed on: 2011-04-26 | Her Majesty the Queen |
| 2011-04-26 | Respondent's factum, Completed on: 2011-04-26 | Her Majesty the Queen |
| 2011-02-25 | Appellant's book of authorities, Completed on: 2011-02-25 | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-02-25 | Appellant's factum, Completed on: 2011-02-25 | Mark Whyte |
| 2011-02-23 | Appellant's record, (2 volumes), Completed on: 2011-02-23 | Mark Whyte |
| 2010-12-14 | Letter advising the parties of tentative hearing date and filing deadlines (Notice of appeal – As of right) | |
| 2010-11-18 | Notice of appeal, CD to come (rec'd Dec.3/10), Completed on: 2010-12-03 | Mark Whyte |
Parties
Please note that in the case of closed files, the “Status” column reflects the status of the parties at the time of the proceedings. For more information about the proceedings and about the dates when the file was open, please consult the docket of the case in question.
Main parties
| Name | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Whyte, Mark | Appellant | Active |
v.
| Name | Role | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Her Majesty the Queen | Respondent | Active |
Counsel
Party: Whyte, Mark
Counsel
Nathan Gorham
36 Lombard Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5C 2X3
Telephone: (416) 598-1811 Ext: 5252
FAX: (416) 598-3384
Email: rusonik@criminaltriallawyers.ca
Agent
2600 - 160 Elgin St
Box 466 Station D
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 1C3
Telephone: (613) 233-1781
FAX: (613) 563-9869
Email: brian.crane@gowlingwlg.com
Party: Her Majesty the Queen
Counsel
720 Bay Street
10th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 2K1
Telephone: (416) 326-4604
FAX: (416) 326-4656
Email: jennifer.woollcombe@ontario.ca
Agent
70 Gloucester Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K2P 0A2
Telephone: (613) 566-2058
FAX: (613) 235-4430
Email: rhouston@burkerobertson.com
Summary
Keywords
None.
Summary
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.
Charter of rights - Criminal law - Search and seizure - Arbitrary detention - Whether the trial judge erred in holding that the appellant’s rights under ss. 8 and 9 of the Charter were violated - Whether the trial judge erred in excluding the seized firearms pursuant to s. 24(2) of the Charter.
Following a tip provided by a police informer and information gathered from police surveillance, Mr. Whyte, the occupant of a rental car, was stopped by a police tactical team in downtown Toronto and arrested without a warrant for various firearms offences. At trial, evidence relating to the firearms was excluded pursuant to s. 24(2) of the Charter on the basis that Mr. Whyte’s ss. 8 and 9 Charter rights had been violated. Mr. Whyte was accordingly acquitted. The Court of Appeal overturned the trial judge’s conclusion on the admissibility of the evidence and entered convictions. In its view, the trial judge had failed to give appropriate weight to the fact that the informer was credible and had failed to consider the totality of the circumstances, particularly the impact of the ongoing police surveillance.
Lower court rulings
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
3604/09, 2010 ONSC 979
See file
Court of Appeal for Ontario
C51976, 2011 ONCA 24
Appeal is allowed
Memorandums of argument on application for leave to appeal
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If you have questions about a memorandum of argument or want to use a memorandum of argument, please contact the author of the memorandum of argument directly. Their name appears at the end of the memorandum of argument. The contact information for counsel is found in the “Counsel” tab of this page.
Downloadable PDFs
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Related links
Factums on appeal
The factums of the appellant, the respondent and the intervener will be posted here at least 2 weeks before the hearing unless they contain personal information, information that is subject to a publication ban, or any other information that is not part of the public record. You may also obtain copies of factums by filling out the Request for Court records form or by contacting the Court’s Records Centre either by email at records-dossiers@scc-csc.ca or by telephone at 613‑996‑7933 or at 1‑888‑551‑1185.
If you have questions about a factum or want permission to use a factum, please contact the author of the factum directly. Their contact information appears on the first page of each factum.
Downloadable PDFs
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