The Attorney General applied under the Civil Remedies Act for civil forfeiture of $8,740 seized from a young Somali-Canadian man.
The police seized the cash after detaining the man near the scene of an unverified shooting, relying on circumstantial evidence including the amount of cash, a police dog sniff, and the man's uncooperative behaviour.
The court dismissed the application, finding the evidence entirely circumstantial and highly equivocal.
The court emphasized that the burden of proof rests on the Attorney General and cautioned against relying on stereotypes or the mere possession of cash to infer unlawful activity.
