On a pretrial Charter application in a criminal prosecution involving marihuana and firearms found after emergency personnel attended a reported home invasion and fire, the court held that both accused had standing to challenge the search of the home but not the searches of a minivan and outbuilding on the property.
The court found that firefighters who re-entered the residence at police request were acting as state agents, and that opening a basement freezer without lawful authority constituted an unreasonable search under s. 8 of the Charter.
Applying the Grant framework, the court held that the prolonged warrantless search of the residence and resulting seizure of evidence from the home required exclusion under s. 24(2).
Evidence from the minivan and outbuilding remained admissible.
