Understanding Canadian Law Three-Book Bundle. Daniel J. Baum
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Black, Debra. 2005. “Racist Incident Offers Lessons.” Toronto Star, May 3.
Brown, Dana. 2009. “School Suspensions Over ‘Kick a Ginger’ Anger Parents.” Toronto Star, November 24.
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Chapter 4
Police Sniffer Dogs:
Schools and Public Places
A locker search might be carried out on a tip from another student; a random baggage search might be based on police-generated profiles. These searches can be aided by electronic devices or trained sniffer dogs. If, for example, illegal drugs are found, they no doubt will be seized, and there is the strong possibility that charges will be laid. If the illicit substance is found in a school, there is the added possibility of discipline, including suspension or expulsion.
Searches, however, whether of the person or the person’s belongings, whether youth or adult, are an invasion of that person’s constitutional rights. This invasion can be justified under the law, but there are conditions that must be met for such an invasion to be accepted and for the illegal item (drugs or weapons) to be used in support of any charge or penalty.
Among the questions raised in this chapter are:
Is the police use of sniffer dogs to find illegal drugs a “search”?
What is the importance of where the dogs are used?
If the police dog signals illegal drugs, may police conduct a search?
Does the Charter of Rights and Freedoms set standards for the use of police sniffer dogs?
Police have long used dogs as investigating “tools.” Their noses have a sense of smell far more sensitive than those of humans. They have been used to find suspects where the only identification is a piece of clothing believed to have been worn by that person. They have also been trained to locate illegal drugs that, in turn, provide police with leads both to ferret out illegal drugs and arrest those engaged in trafficking.
This chapter focuses on two cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada on the same day: April 25, 2008. In both cases, a Court majority (six of nine Justices) agreed that the evidence of illegal drugs found by police as a result of dog sniffing could not be used at trial.
The cases are The Queen v. A.M. and The Queen v. Kang-Brown. In both cases, the Attorneys General of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia were