Criminal Code

Marginal note:Information for search warrant

• 487 (1) A justice who is satisfied by information on oath in Form 1 that there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is in a building, receptacle or place

  • (a) anything on or in respect of which any offence against this Act or any other Act of Parliament has been or is suspected to have been committed,

  • (b) anything that there are reasonable grounds to believe will afford evidence with respect to the commission of an offence, or will reveal the whereabouts of a person who is believed to have committed an offence, against this Act or any other Act of Parliament,

  • (c) anything that there are reasonable grounds to believe is intended to be used for the purpose of committing any offence against the person for which a person may be arrested without warrant, or

  • (c.1) any offence-related property,

  may at any time issue a warrant authorizing a peace officer or a public officer who has been appointed or designated to administer or enforce a federal or provincial law and whose duties include the enforcement of this Act or any other Act of Parliament and who is named in the warrant

  • (d) to search the building, receptacle or place for any such thing and to seize it, and

  • (e) subject to any other Act of Parliament, to, as soon as practicable, bring the thing seized before, or make a report in respect thereof to, the justice or some other justice for the same territorial division in accordance with section 489.1.

• Marginal note:Endorsement of search warrant

  (2) If the building, receptacle or place is in another territorial division, the justice may issue the warrant with any modifications that the circumstances require, and it may be executed in the other territorial division after it has been endorsed, in Form 28, by a justice who has jurisdiction in that territorial division. The endorsement may be made on the original of the warrant or on a copy of the warrant transmitted by any means of telecommunication.

• Marginal note:Operation of computer system and copying equipment

  (2.1) A person authorized under this section to search a computer system in a building or place for data may

  • (a) use or cause to be used any computer system at the building or place to search any data contained in or available to the computer system;

  • (b) reproduce or cause to be reproduced any data in the form of a print-out or other intelligible output;

  • (c) seize the print-out or other output for examination or copying; and

  • (d) use or cause to be used any copying equipment at the place to make copies of the data.

• Marginal note:Duty of person in possession or control

  (2.2) Every person who is in possession or control of any building or place in respect of which a search is carried out under this section shall, on presentation of the warrant, permit the person carrying out the search

  • (a) to use or cause to be used any computer system at the building or place in order to search any data contained in or available to the computer system for data that the person is authorized by this section to search for;

  • (b) to obtain a hard copy of the data and to seize it; and

  • (c) to use or cause to be used any copying equipment at the place to make copies of the data.

• Marginal note:Form

  (3) A search warrant issued under this section may be in the form set out as Form 5 in Part XXVIII, varied to suit the case.

• Marginal note:Effect of endorsement

  (4) An endorsement that is made in accordance with subsection (2) is sufficient authority to the peace officers or public officers to whom the warrant was originally directed, and to all peace officers within the jurisdiction of the justice by whom it is endorsed, to execute the warrant and to deal with the things seized in accordance with section 489.1 or as otherwise provided by law.