Appeal from conviction. After arrest, police delayed access to counsel until a search warrant for his residence had been obtained and the search started. Various illicit items found in residence.
Held: Appeal dismissed.
Crown conceded 10(b) breach on appeal. However, for 24(2), Court found exclusion was not justified. “Without needing to fully canvass the issue about whether and when a police policy or practice to delay a person’s constitutional right to access counsel without delay may be legitimate, we simply note that any such policy could not be rigidly followed and would have to be responsive to events occurring on the ground… [T]he blanket suggestion that such a policy is unconstitutional overstates the reach of the Charter”. However, “concerns of a general or non-specific nature applicable to virtually any search cannot justify delaying access”. Evidence in this case did not establish serious breach nor impact. Slatter JA. concurred in result in separate reasons.
Nate Whitling – Defence Counsel