Case information

Charter of Rights and Freedoms — Search and Seizure — Whether police breached accused’s reasonable expectation of privacy in his own backyard — Whether Court of Appeal erred by declining to exclude evidence?

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.

Police surveilled Mr. Roy’s rural residential property from a neighbouring farm field onto which they trespassed and from a ditch across the road from the front of the property. Twice, they heard gunshots. Once, they saw Mr. Roy holding a rifle. Once, they saw a woman firing a rifle. The police obtained a warrant to search the house for weapons. During the search, they observed marijuana plants and psilocybin mushrooms in the residence. They suspended the search to obtain an additional warrant. They seized firearms, psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana plants. The trial judge dismissed an application to exclude the evidence for beach of s. 8 of the Charter and convicted Mr. Roy of firearms and narcotics offences. Mr. Roy appealed. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.