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| Patrick Ducharme |
Either a Provincial Court Judge or a Judge of a Superior Court may issue a warrant in writing authorizing a peace officer to use any device or investigative technique or procedure or do anything described in the warrant that would, if not authorized, constitute an unreasonable search or seizure in respect of a person or person’s property, if the Judge is satisfied by information on oath in writing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that in an offence against the Code or any other Act of Parliament has been or will be committed, and, that information concerning the events will be obtained through the use of the technique, procedure or device.
Nothing in section 487.01 shall be construed to permit interference with the bodily integrity of any person. One of the requirements for the issuance of a general warrant is that there is no other provision in the Code or any other Act of Parliament that would provide for a warrant, authorization or order permitting the technique, procedure or device to be used or the thing to be done. Consequently, if the only basis for seeking a general warrant, rather than a conventional warrant, is the belief by the authorities that there are exigent circumstances and neither the information to obtain nor the testimony given on a Charter challenge to the warrant demonstrates exigent circumstances, the warrant will be found to be invalid.
Continued in part 2.
The above is the an excerpt of Patrick J Ducharme’s book, Canadian Criminal Procedure, available at Amazon or in bulk through MedicaLegal Publishing along with Criminal Trial Strategies.
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