Trash search doesn't violate privacy rights, says top court
Last Updated: Thursday, April 9, 2009 | 2:11 PM ET
CBC News
The Supreme Court of Canada has dismissed an appeal from a convicted ecstasy trafficker who argued police violated his privacy rights by searching through his trash.
In a 7-0 ruling issued Thursday, the court said Russell Stephen Patrick had abandoned his privacy rights when he put the garbage bags out for collection on the edge of his property behind his house.
"The bags were unprotected and within easy reach of anyone walking by in the public alleyway, including street people, bottle pickers, urban foragers, nosey neighbours and mischievous children, not to mention dogs and assorted wildlife, as well as the garbage collectors and the police," wrote the court.
Patrick was convicted of producing and trafficking the drug after Calgary police found evidence of an ecstasy pill lab by searching through his garbage bags in 2003. The evidence found in the bags, which included torn-up chemical recipes, packaging for a scale and invoices for chemicals used to make ecstasy, allowed police to get a search warrant for his home.
Calgary lawyer Michael Bates had argued his client's 'territorial' right to privacy was violated by police because they took the bags from the edge of his property, where they had been placed for collection. (John Spittal/CBC) His lawyer, Michael Bates, had argued Patrick's "territorial" right to privacy was violated by police because they took the bags from the edge of his property, where they had been placed for collection.
But the justices said: "The police had no greater access in this regard than the public, but their access was no less.
"Since [Patrick] had abandoned his garbage before it was seized by the police, he had no subsisting privacy interest at the time it was seized. The police conduct was objectively reasonable," said the judgment.
In separate but concurring reasoning, Justice Rosalie Abella said police must have a "reasonable suspicion" that a criminal offence has happened or will happen before doing such a search.
"The fact that what is at issue is waste left out for collection, however, argues for a diminished expectation of privacy. But the state should have at least a reasonable suspicion that a criminal offence has been or is likely to be committed before conducting a search," she wrote.
Patrick, a former member of Canada's national swim team, was sentenced to four years in prison in 2006 by an Alberta court. The province's Court of Appeal later upheld the conviction.
His case was considered a key test on whether garbage is constitutionally protected, like homes and telephone conversations.
With files from The Canadian Press
