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"In 1984, the Supreme Court of Canada, in Hunter v Southam, declared warrantless searches unreasonable under section 8 of the Charter. Police would henceforth require authorization based on "reasonable and probable grounds." The decision promised to protect individuals from encroaching state power, but as Richard Jochelson and David Ireland argue, post-Hunter search and seizure law took a turn away from the landmark decision. A close examination of dozens of post-Hunter cases reveals that section 8 protections have become more difficult to obtain in the post-9/11 era. Rather than developing rigorous standards for new search and surveillance techniques and technologies, the court has used the Charter to sanction broader police powers. Yet, even as it demonstrates that the core principles of Dickson's vision for section 8 rights have been diminished in an era of heightened security and expanding police powers, Privacy in Peril suggests that increasing citation of Hunter in the halls of justice offers hope that some protection of civil liberties will endure in the twenty-first century."-- Provided by publisher.
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"Police enforce the law, but they must also obey it. Statutes circumscribe how law enforcement officers conduct their work. At the same time, Canadian courts have handed police many powers to stop, search, and otherwise investigate people in the pursuit of public safety and crime prevention. Ancillary Police Powers in Canada explains what these common-law police powers are, how they came to be, and, crucially, what the potential dangers are in their expanding scope. Why are Mr. Big sting operations used in this country? What is the difference between police duty and lawful authority? Should the Supreme Court rescind powers when the police tactics they enable become controversial? This nuanced book surveys the evolution, application, and future of judge-made police powers. The authors, experts in their fields, bring historical perspective, critical legal theory, and empirical analysis to an issue that is fundamental to constitutional protection from state interference with individual liberty."-- Provided by publisher.
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In recent years, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the “Charter”) has been relied on increasingly by Canadian courts to bolster common law police powers, often at the expense of due process. Ostensibly, the courts have shown more concern with the administration of the limits of policing than with the delineation of civil liberties. In this article, we trace the evolution of the interpretation of the Charter in this context, with early decisions suggesting a reluctance to create ex post facto police powers. The article then outlines the acceleration of judicial proliferation of common law police powers in Canada, cloaked in the veil of the Charter. In other words, unauthorized police conduct is legitimized by the courts on an ad hoc basis, so long as it is ultimately justifiable. We then discuss the findings of our own research into this phenomenon and comment on the possible implications that increasingly expansive common law police powers created by courts have had on due process in Canada, and the administrative role of the Supreme Court of Canada in mobilizing civil rights protections in the direction of state surveillance.
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Courts around the world moved quickly in determining how to conduct proceedings remotely in response to COVID-induced shutdowns. However, both implicitly and by their actions, in the initial wake of pandemic closures Canadian courts demonstrated a consensus that jury trials could only be conducted in person, even as other proceedings moved to a digital realm. We provide a snapshot of what Canadian courts’ initial responses were in adapting to their new reality. We then highlight general issues that need to be considered in conducting court proceedings online, as well as describe issues specific to criminal jury trials. Our contention is that the failure of Canadian courts to address these issues, and their failure to make any considerations towards conducting jury trials remotely despite doing so for nearly all other proceedings, leaves the jury trial vulnerable to obsolescence in a digital world.
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