Case information

None.

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 and Freedoms – Criminal law – Unreasonable search and seizure – Evidence – Text messages – Whether there is a reasonable expectation of privacy over the common areas of a multi-unit residential building – Whether the common areas of a condominium building are captured by the Criminal Code definition of a dwelling house – Whether police require judicial authorization to obtain renters’ information from a condominium building manager – Whether Part VI of Criminal Code applies to historic text messages.

Police investigating cocaine and heroin trafficking believed that phone numbers connected to drug dealing also were connected to the applicant. They undertook surveillance and observed the applicant engaging in behavior they believed was consistent with drug dealing. During this surveillance they gained access to common areas of a multi-unit residential condominium building where the applicant resided and they obtained renters’ information for the building from the building manager. Police arrested the applicant in the elevator of the condominium building while he was in possession of a large quantity of cocaine. They entered his condominium unit before obtaining a search warrant, in order to remove his girlfriend, but they did not search the unit until after a search warrant was issued. They relied on a production order to obtain records of historic text messages that they entered at trial as evidence of drug dealing.

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