This case involved charges of buying and selling salmon caught under the authority of a food fishing licence.
This judgment was a ruling on a voice dire concerning the admissibility of documents seized under the authority of two search warrants issued under s. 487 of the Criminal Code.
The court reviewed the affidavits filed in support of the affidavits and concluded that they contained erroneous and unsupported evidence. The court also concluded that there was material non-disclosure. Accordingly, it ruled that the search had violated the Charter. In ruling that the evidence obtained as a result of the violation should be excluded, the court said as follows:
In the public and highly polarized environment of the salmon fishery on the Fraser, it is important the authorities act in accordance with the law, inform themselves of their obligations under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and act in accordance the these obligations. The D.F.O. should provide its officers with the resources to do so. Given the seriousness of the breaches, the lack of good faith, I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the administration of justice would suffer greater disrepute from the admission of the evidence than from the exclusion.