The applicant, Marcus Akin Connell, sought to exclude evidence (a loaded handgun) under section 24(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The evidence was obtained following police detention, search, and arrest for breach of a release order.
The Crown conceded multiple Charter breaches, including arbitrary detention (s. 9), unreasonable search and seizure of identification (s. 8), and denial of rights to counsel (s. 10(a) and 10(b)).
Applying the three-stage Grant test, the court found the police conduct to be at the serious end of the spectrum due to mistaken beliefs about their powers and obligations, and the impact on the applicant's Charter-protected interests was also high, particularly given his intoxicated state and prior experiences as a racialized male.
Despite the reliability and importance of the evidence to the Crown's case, the court concluded that admitting it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
The evidence was therefore excluded.