Charter Cases: Section 9: Arbitrary Detention
R. v. Loewen, 2011 SCC 21
A police officer had smelled marijuana on the Appellant, Derek Loewen, after stopping him for speeding, and came to the conclusion that he had admitted the indictable offence of possession for the purpose of trafficking. The officer proceeded to search Mr. Loewen and found 100 grams of crack cocaine. This appeal dealt with the legality of the detention and search. Continue reading
R. v. Grant 2009 SCC 32
In Grant, the Supreme Court of Canada revisited and revised the test laid out in R. v. Collins, [1987] 1 S.C.R. 265, increasing the standard for the exclusion of evidence set out in Section 24(2) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Continue reading
Charkaoui v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2007 SCC 9
The appellants in this case challenged Sections 77 to 85 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, which authorized the federal government to detain a permanent resident or refugee for national security reasons. Although detainees could challenge these so called “security certificates” in Federal Court, they were not entitled to review the evidence against them. Furthermore, once a Federal Court judge determined that the certificate was “reasonable” (on the basis of evidence that the accused could not see), there was no avenue of appeal or judicial review. Continue reading