Warrantless Drug Searches (Section 11(7) of the CDSA)

Were there exigent circumstances? Did the exigent circumstances render it impracticable to obtain a warrant?

Section 11(7) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act states:

(7) A peace officer may exercise any of the powers described in subsection (1), (5) or (6) without a warrant if the conditions for obtaining a warrant exist but by reason of exigent circumstances it would be impracticable to obtain one.

Subsection (1) of s. 11 empowers a peace officer to conduct a warranted search of a place for, inter alia, a controlled substance and to seize it. Section 11(7), therefore, empowers a peace officer to conduct a warrantless search for a controlled substance, so long as conditions for obtaining a warrant existed and exigent circumstances made it impracticable for the officer to obtain a warrant.

For a warrantless entry into a residence to satisfy section 11(7), the Crown must show that the entry was compelled by urgency, calling for immediate police action to preserve evidence, officer safety or public safety (that is, exigent circumstances).  Further, this urgency must be shown to have been such that taking the time to obtain a warrant would pose serious risk to those imperatives (that is, it is impracticable to obtain the warrant).

R. v. Paterson, 2017 SCC 15, at para 37.

 Impracticable is not synonymous with inconvenient.  Impracticability suggests a stringent standard, requiring that it be impossible in practice or unmanageable to obtain a warrant.

R. v. Paterson, 2017 SCC 15, at para 36.

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