Accused persons charged with murder brought applications to exclude historical text messages obtained by police through a production order directed to a telecommunications provider.
They argued that s. 487.012 of the Criminal Code did not authorize the production of private communications, or alternatively that the provision violated s. 8 of the Charter.
The court held that stored historical text messages constitute “data” within the meaning of the provision and that obtaining them by production order does not amount to interception of private communications under Part VI.
The statutory prerequisites for a production order satisfied constitutional standards for reasonable search and seizure.
The applications to exclude the evidence were dismissed.