Government ordered to return electronic records seized under warrant

On December 11th, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice found the Ministry of Labour violated Booth Centennial Healthcare Linen Services’ section 8 Charter rights and ordered it to return electronic records seized under an extremely broad search warrant. Mr. Justice Corbett’s order states, “The search and seizure of electronic records in this case was grossly overbroad, in the circumstances. There was no evidence before me of the practicality of an on-site search for electronic records, an approach that, as a matter of common sense, ought to be possible in a case like this.” We expect supplementary reasons to be issued in January.