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Inventory search after lawful impoundment upheld despite earlier Charter breaches.
The applicants brought a Charter application seeking exclusion of cocaine evidence following a traffic stop and subsequent searches.
The court found that the passenger was psychologically detained when police requested identification and that using the passenger’s health card to conduct a CPIC check breached s. 8 of the Charter.
Although a protective pat‑down search was justified for officer safety, opening a cigarette package discovered during the search exceeded the lawful scope and constituted an unreasonable search.
The court also found there were no reasonable grounds to arrest the driver for possession based solely on cocaine found on the passenger.
However, the vehicle search that uncovered a larger quantity of cocaine was justified as a lawful inventory search following mandatory vehicle impoundment under the Highway Traffic Act, and the evidence was therefore admissible.
Conviction appeal dismissed; no error in excluding prior inconsistent statement or assessing complainant credibility.
The appellant appealed his convictions for sexual assault, uttering a death threat, and breaking and entering, which arose from a domestic dispute with his former spouse.
He argued the trial judge erred by excluding evidence of a telephone conversation under section 11 of the Canada Evidence Act and by improperly assessing the complainant's credibility.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the trial judge's discretionary exclusion of the evidence due to lack of compliance with section 11, nor any error in the credibility assessment that would render the verdict unreasonable.
