The appeal concerned the admissibility of lawfully intercepted private telephone conversations between spouses in a criminal prosecution.
The majority held that the conjoint effect of s. 178.16(5) of the Criminal Code and s. 4(3) of the Canada Evidence Act preserved the privilege over marital communications, relying in part on the equally authoritative French version of the provision.
The intercepted conversations between the spouses should therefore have been excluded as against the wife.
The appeal was allowed with respect to one appellant and dismissed with respect to the other.
