Voyeurism: Secret Recordings and Expectation of Privacy
To come within the offence of voyeurism (section 162 of the Criminal Code ), the impugned observation or recording must be done surreptitiously. Also, the person who is observed or recorded must be in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy. In R. v. Jarvis , 2017 ONCA 778 the Court of Appeal for Ontario, applying principles of statutory interpretation [FN], held that for the purposes of the voyeurism offence the reasonable expectation of privacy of the person being secretly stared at or videoed does not include a reasonable expectation that she/he not be surreptitiously recorded or observed. If the fact that they are being surreptitiously recorded without their consent for a sexual purpose were enough to give rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy, that would make the privacy requirement redundant (at para. 108). Given Huscroft J.A’s cogent dissent, I imagine that this proposition may find itself tested at the Supreme Court of Canad...