Drug Warrant that Authorizes Police to Search a Residence “at any time” Means any time Today
In R. v. Saint, 2017 ONCA 491, the Court of Appeal for Ontario considered whether a drug warrant (section 11, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act ) was invalid as it did not specify an execution date. The function of a search warrant is to authorize police officers to enter a specified place they would otherwise have no authority to enter, in order to search for and seize specified property. Because forced entry into a private place, particularly a person’s residence, is such an extraordinary exercise of executive power, it is subject to stringent juridical control: it must be judicially authorized ex ante and is subject to judicial scrutiny ex post : R. v. Saint, 2017 ONCA 491, at para. 6; R. v. Araujo , 2000 SCC 65, [2000] 2 S.C.R. 992, at para. 29. It is uncontroversial that a non-expiring warrant undermines the purposes for the warrant requirement: facilitating meaningful judicial pre-authorization; directing and limiting the police in the execution of the search; and ...