April 13, 2012
R v Tse 2012 SCC 16

Justices Moldaver and Karakatsanis, on behalf of the Supreme Court, upheld the BC lower court judgment, which had found that s. 184.4 contravened the right to be free from unreasonable search or seizure under s. 8 of the Charter and that it was not a reasonable limit under s. 1.

In this case, the police used s. 184.4 of the Criminal Code to carry out unauthorized warrantless wiretaps when the daughter of an alleged kidnapping victim began receiving calls from her father stating that he was being held for ransom.

…s. 184.4 violates s. 8 of the Charter as it does not provide a mechanism for oversight, and more particularly, notice to persons whose private communications have been intercepted. This breach cannot be saved under s. 1 of the Charter.