On April 18, 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada released its judgment in R v Mills. In a plurality opinion, Justice Brown held that s. 8 of the Charter does not require undercover officers to get judicial authorization before posing as a child and texting with suspects online. The applicability of s. 8 of the Charter beyond this narrow context remains unclear. In a concurring opinion, Justice Karakatsanis held that s. 8 of the Charter is never engaged when an undercover police officer exchanges text messages with a suspect, but that opinion did not command a majority (or even a plurality) of the Court.
Our partner, Gerald Chan, represented the Criminal Lawyers’ Association in this appeal. He shared his thoughts on the Court’s decision with the Lawyer’s Daily.
