R. v. Mills: Reasonable Expectations of Privacy and the Protection of Children
Children are especially vulnerable to sexual crimes and, without question, the Internet allows for greater opportunities to sexually exploit them. Protecting children from becoming victims of sexual offences is vital in a free and democratic society, and that need can inform the scope of one's reasonable expectation of privacy under section 8 of the Charter. Most relationships between adults and children are worthy of s. 8’s protection, including, but in no way limited to, those with family, friends, professionals, or religious advisors. R. v. Mills , 2019 SCC 22, at paras. 23, 24 [plurality opinion; Moldaver J, concurring]. However, an adult does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in online communications between himself and a person he believes to be child, where the person he believes to be a child is effectively a stranger to him, and where police are aware of this. Ibid. , at para. 30. Thus, police did not need to obtain a warrant to c...