Case information

Charter of Rights – Criminal law – Search and seizure – Is there a reasonable expectation of privacy in information gathered in the common areas of multi-unit buildings – Did the Court of Appeal for Ontario err in law in concluding that the applicant's rights under section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were not violated as he lacked any reasonable expectation of privacy in relation to the records held by the building management and the information provided to the police.

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.

While under police surveillance, the applicant was seen stopping in the garage of a condominium complex for 23 minutes, then subsequently driving to meet another person in an isolated parking lot. The applicant handed the second person a package. Both men were eventually apprehended, and the package was found to contain cocaine. The applicant was charged with trafficking cocaine and possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine. The applicant’s car was searched at the time of his arrest, and keys and a fob were found. Based upon information from the fob and from the property manager of the condominium complex, police identified the unit likely entered by the applicant and considered it likely that the unit was being used as the applicant’s stash house. They carried out a warrantless search and subsequently obtained and executed a search warrant that day. Police found and seized nine kilograms of cocaine in the unit.

On a pre-trial application the applicant successfully argued that an absence of exigent circumstances rendered the warrantless search of the condominium unreasonable and an infringement of his s. 8 Charter right. However, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice dismissed the applicant’s application to exclude all evidence seized pursuant to his arrest and the warrant authorized search of the condominium. He was convicted of drug trafficking and possession for the purposes of trafficking. The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed his appeal. The applicant challenges that decision as not recognizing a reasonable expectation of privacy for information held by property managers and activities taking place in the common areas of multi-unit buildings.