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.

The Court of Appeal set out the following facts. The Appellant was charged with possession for purposes of trafficking of marihuana, in an amount not exceeding three kilograms. On December 23, 2000, shortly before midnight, two police officers received information of a break-in at a given address, as well as a description and name of a suspect. As they drove close to the scene of the reported crime, they observed the Appellant walking on the sidewalk. He matched the description "to the tee." The officers decided to question him. He identified himself and complied with a request for a security search of his person described by one officer as a pat-down of the extremities and torso, basically the whole body, to look for sharp objects, guns, clubs or anything like that. The Appellant was wearing a pullover sweater with a front pouch. When the officer touched the outside of the pouch, he felt something which he acknowledged did not feel hard. He searched inside the pouch and found a small plastic bag containing 27.55 grams (approximately 1 oz.) of marihuana and some baggies. The officer testified that he searched inside the pocket:

... because I feel something soft in, in the front, it may be hiding something hard behind, another weapon or anything. It's because I feel a soft object in the front I'm not going to stop my search, for security reasons.

The trial judge concluded that the marihuana was the product of an unreasonable search. He excluded the evidence under s. 24(2) of the Charter and dismissed the charge against the Appellant. The Court of Appeal allowed an appeal and ordered a new trial.