Pubdate: Fri, 10 Apr 2009 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Janice Tibbetts THIS WAS SOMEWHAT MORE THAN TRASH TALK Supreme Court Upholds Warrant When you put out the trash, don't expect a constitutional right to privacy of the contents. The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled Thursday that police can sift through garbage if it has been set out at the edge of your property for municipal collection because "abandoned" goods do not trigger Charter of Rights protection. The decision rejected Calgarian Russell Patrick's quest to overturn his drug conviction on grounds police violated his right against unreasonable search and seizure when they snatched rubbish, obtaining enough evidence to get a search warrant for his home and then charged him with trafficking ecstasy. The trash contained such things as drug recipes and was contained in an open receptacle at the back of his property. "When the garbage is placed at the lot line for collection, I believe the householder has sufficiently abandoned his interest and control to eliminate any objectively reasonable privacy interest," wrote Justice Ian Binnie in the 7-0 ruling. "The bags were unprotected and within easy reach of anyone walking by in a public alleyway, including street people, bottle pickers, urban foragers, nosy neighbours, and mischievous children, not to mention dogs and assorted wildlife, as well as the garbage collectors." A former world-record swimming star, he was sentenced to four years in prison in 2006. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association said there were significant privacy rights at stake in the case because garbage contains personal information such as DNA and financial records. Association lawyer Jonathan Lisus said the ruling contained a bright light for privacy rights as it acknowledged in some cases, police would need a judicial permit for access to garbage, just as they do to enter dwellings. "Until the garbage is placed at or within reach of the lot line, the householder retains an element of control over its disposition and cannot be said to have unequivocally abandoned it, particularly if it is placed on a porch or in a garage or within the immediate vicinity of the dwelling," Binnie wrote. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin