Case information

Charter of Rights and Freedom — Search and seizure — What is the appropriate relevance threshold under s. 8 of the Charter to determine whether the scope of a regulatory investigative summons is overbroad — What considerations should apply in fashioning a Charter remedy for a breach of s. 8 of the Charter in the regulatory context?

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.

Binance Holdings Limited operates an online trading platform for investments in the crypto assets market. The Ontario Securities Commission issued an order launching an investigation into its business and alleged violations of the Securities Act, R.S.O 1990, c. S.5. An appointed investigator issued a summons under s. 13 of the Securities Act setting out a wide-ranging demand for production of documents. Binance Holdings Limited brought a motion before the Capital Markets Tribunal seeking an order revoking the investigation order and summons. The Tribunal held it did not have jurisdiction to revoke the investigation order and summons. On an application for judicial review, the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice declined to judicially review Charter issues and otherwise affirmed the investigation order and summons. Binance Holdings Limited brought a collateral application before the Ontario Securities Commission. The Commission held that it lacked jurisdiction to revoke or vary the summons. The Court of Appeal for Ontario joined appeals from the Divisional Court’s decision and the Ontario Security Commission’s decision. It held that the summons is overbroad, in breach of s. 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and unconstitutional. It set aside the summons without prejudice to investigator to issue a Charter-compliant summons.