A. He/She may want to verify your sobriety. He/She may want to verify that your car is in working order. He/She may want to assure himself that you have your driver’s license, insurance, and car registration. Or, he/she may have a reasonable suspicion that you or your passengers were involved in a criminal offence.
A. Unless he/she can show that he/she has a reasonable suspicion to believe you or your passengers were involved in a criminal offence, he/she is not allowed to conduct a search of your vehicle or conduct an investigation into the identity of your passengers.
A. Not unless the police officer has grounds to arrest you. If an officer does not have any grounds to arrest you, they can only conduct a pat down search of the exterior of your body (which does not include your pockets) when they have reasonable grounds to believe that you pose a safety risk to them, yourself or the public.
A. According to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, you have the right to remain silent. As such, you do not generally need to give the police any information or assist in a criminal investigation. Before providing information or deciding to cooperate with the police, you should consult a lawyer.
A. In 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the police may search a person’s cellphone incident to that person’s arrest only if certain conditions are met: (a) the arrest must be lawful, (b) the search must follow the arrest and must be for a clear law enforcement purpose such as protecting the police, the accused, the public, preserving evidence or if the investigation will be stymied or significantly hampered without such a search being possible, to discover evidence. Furthermore, the SCC noted that absent detailed notes about what was searched, how and why from the police officer, such a search would be considered unlawful.
