Criminal Code

Marginal note:Telewarrants

• 487.1 (1) If a peace officer believes that an indictable offence has been committed and that it would be impracticable to appear personally before a justice to make an application for a warrant in accordance with section 487, the peace officer may submit an information on oath by telephone or other means of telecommunication to a justice designated for the purpose by the chief judge of the provincial court having jurisdiction in the matter.

• Marginal note:Information submitted by telephone

  (2) An information submitted by telephone or other means of telecommunication, other than a means of telecommunication that produces a writing, shall be on oath and shall be recorded verbatim by the justice, who shall, as soon as practicable, cause to be filed, with the clerk of the court for the territorial division in which the warrant is intended for execution, the record or a transcription of it, certified by the justice as to time, date and contents.

• Marginal note:Information submitted by other means of telecommunication

  (2.1) The justice who receives an information submitted by a means of telecommunication that produces a writing shall, as soon as practicable, cause to be filed, with the clerk of the court for the territorial division in which the warrant is intended for execution, the information certified by the justice as to time and date of receipt.

• Marginal note:Administration of oath

  (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), an oath may be administered by telephone or other means of telecommunication.

• Marginal note:Alternative to oath

  (3.1) A peace officer who uses a means of telecommunication referred to in subsection (2.1) may, instead of swearing an oath, make a statement in writing stating that all matters contained in the information are true to his or her knowledge and belief and such a statement is deemed to be a statement made under oath.

• Marginal note:Contents of information

  (4) An information submitted by telephone or other means of telecommunication shall include

  • (a) a statement of the circumstances that make it impracticable for the peace officer to appear personally before a justice;

  • (b) a statement of the indictable offence alleged, the place or premises to be searched and the items alleged to be liable to seizure;

  • (c) a statement of the peace officer’s grounds for believing that items liable to seizure in respect of the offence alleged will be found in the place or premises to be searched; and

  • (d) a statement as to any prior application for a warrant under this section or any other search warrant, in respect of the same matter, of which the peace officer has knowledge.

• Marginal note:Issuing warrant

  (5) A justice referred to in subsection (1) may issue a warrant to a peace officer conferring the same authority respecting search and seizure as may be conferred by a warrant issued under subsection 487(1) if the justice is satisfied that an information submitted by telephone or other means of telecommunication

  • (a) is in respect of an indictable offence and conforms to the requirements of subsection (4);

  • (b) discloses reasonable grounds for dispensing with an information presented personally and in writing; and

  • (c) discloses reasonable grounds in accordance with paragraph 487(1)(a), (b) or (c), as the case may be, for the issuance of a warrant in respect of an indictable offence.

  The justice may require that the warrant be executed within the period that he or she may order.

• Marginal note:Formalities respecting warrant and facsimiles

  (6) Where a justice issues a warrant by telephone or other means of telecommunication, other than a means of telecommunication that produces a writing,

  • (a) the justice shall complete and sign the warrant in Form 5.1, noting on its face the time, date and place of issuance;

  • (b) the peace officer, on the direction of the justice, shall complete, in duplicate, a facsimile of the warrant in Form 5.1, noting on its face the name of the issuing justice and the time, date and place of issuance; and

  • (c) the justice shall, as soon as practicable after the warrant has been issued, cause the warrant to be filed with the clerk of the court for the territorial division in which the warrant is intended for execution.

• Marginal note:Issuance of warrant where telecommunication produces writing

  (6.1) Where a justice issues a warrant by a means of telecommunication that produces a writing,

  • (a) the justice shall complete and sign the warrant in Form 5.1, noting on its face the time, date and place of issuance;

  • (b) the justice shall transmit the warrant by the means of telecommunication to the peace officer who submitted the information and the copy of the warrant received by the peace officer is deemed to be a facsimile within the meaning of paragraph (6)(b);

  • (c) the peace officer shall procure another facsimile of the warrant; and

  • (d) the justice shall, as soon as practicable after the warrant has been issued, cause the warrant to be filed with the clerk of the court for the territorial division in which the warrant is intended for execution.

• Marginal note:Providing facsimile

  (7) A peace officer who executes a warrant issued by telephone or other means of telecommunication shall, before or as soon as practicable after entering the place or premises to be searched, give a facsimile of the warrant to any person who is present and ostensibly in control of the place or premises.

• Marginal note:Affixing facsimile

  (8) A peace officer who, in any unoccupied place or premises, executes a warrant issued by telephone or other means of telecommunication shall, on entering or as soon as practicable after entering the place or premises, cause a facsimile of the warrant to be suitably affixed in a prominent place within the place or premises.

• Marginal note:Report of peace officer

  (9) A peace officer to whom a warrant is issued by telephone or other means of telecommunication shall file a written report with the clerk of the court for the territorial division in which the warrant was intended for execution as soon as practicable but within a period not exceeding seven days after the warrant has been executed, which report shall include

  • (a) a statement of the time and date the warrant was executed or, if the warrant was not executed, a statement of the reasons why it was not executed;

  • (b) a statement of the things, if any, that were seized pursuant to the warrant and the location where they are being held; and

  • (c) a statement of the things, if any, that were seized in addition to the things mentioned in the warrant and the location where they are being held, together with a statement of the peace officer’s grounds for believing that those additional things had been obtained by, or used in, the commission of an offence.

• Marginal note:Bringing before justice

  (10) The clerk of the court shall, as soon as practicable, cause the report, together with the information and the warrant to which it pertains, to be brought before a justice to be dealt with, in respect of the things seized referred to in the report, in the same manner as if the things were seized pursuant to a warrant issued, on an information presented personally by a peace officer, by that justice or another justice for the same territorial division.

• Marginal note:Proof of authorization

  (11) In any proceeding in which it is material for a court to be satisfied that a search or seizure was authorized by a warrant issued by telephone or other means of telecommunication, the absence of the information or warrant, signed by the justice and carrying on its face a notation of the time, date and place of issuance, is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof that the search or seizure was not authorized by a warrant issued by telephone or other means of telecommunication.

• Marginal note:Duplicates and facsimiles acceptable

  (12) A duplicate or a facsimile of an information or a warrant has the same probative force as the original for the purposes of subsection (11).