Trends in Wiretap Law: Part Two
- April 16, 2014
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
In the first part of this series of posts on trends in wiretap law I said that over the last thirty years there has been an expansion of state intrusion into the personal sphere of the individual that is vivid…
Trends in Wiretap Law: Part One
- April 2, 2014
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
Canadians value their privacy both individually and collectively. We may not protect our privacy like my parents did in a social sense and we have surrendered much to the surveillance camera but in 1982 the nation found the political will…
The Exclusionary Rule
- March 16, 2014
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
In 1974 Parliament enacted Part IV.1 [now Part VI] of the Criminal Code known as the Protection of Privacy Act. 1 The legislation was a response to wiretapping by the police that was unsupervised by Parliament or the judiciary. 2 The…
Police Must Get Wiretap Order to Seize Text Messages
- March 2, 2014
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
In an important ruling released on March 27, 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada held that text messages are private communications that are protected by Part VI of the Criminal Code. In a case reported as R. v. Telus Communications…
Supreme Court Clarifies the Law of Police Safety Searches
- February 16, 2014
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
In an important judgment released on January 17, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the constitutional requirements of police searches conducted to ensure the safety of the police or the public. In R. v. MacDonald, 2014 SCC 3 two…