Top Five 2008: R v AM; R v Kang Brown

Each year at OJEN’s Toronto Summer Law Institute, a judge from the Court of Appeal for Ontario identifies five cases that are of significance in the educational setting. This summary, based on these comments and observations, is appropriate for discussion and debate in the classroom setting.

R v AM, 2008 SCC 19, [2008] 1 SCR 569; R v Kang Brown, 2008 SCC 18, [2008] 1 SCR 456

Does the use of drug dog sniffers violate the Charter?  Section 8 of the Charter guarantees everyone freedom from unreasonable search or seizure…. Evidence obtained by an unreasonable search in violation of s. 8 may be excluded under s. 24(2) of the Charter. In A.M., The Supreme Court of Canada excluded evidence of drugs found in a high school student’s backpack by a police sniffer dog. In a companion case, Kang Brown, the Supreme Court also excluded drugs found in apassenger’s bag at a bus depot. The full decisions are available here: R v. A.M. and R v. Kang-Brown