What is the test for a reasonable expectation of privacy under s. 8 of the Criminal Code?

British Columbia, Canada


The following excerpt is from R. v. M.L.M., 2005 BCSC 385 (CanLII):

In Hunter et al v. Southam Inc.[5], Dickson J. (as he then was) in giving the court’s decision, observed that: . . . The guarantee of security from unreasonable search and seizure only protects a reasonable expectation. This limitation on the right guaranteed by s. 8, whether it is expressed negatively as freedom from “unreasonable” search and seizure, or positively as an entitlement to a “reasonable” expectation of privacy, indicates that an assessment must be made as to whether in a particular situation the public’s interest in being left alone by government must give way to the government’s interest in intruding on the individual’s privacy in order to advance its goals, notably those of law enforcement. [Emphasis in original]

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