The Law of Sniffer-Dog Searches in Canada

In Who’s a Good Boy? U.S. Supreme Court Considers Again Whether Dog Sniffs Are Searches (Justic, January 16, 2019), Professor Sherry F. Colb notes that the United States Supreme Court “is currently considering whether to grant review in Edstrom v. Minnesota.” She indicates that this “presents the issue whether police must obtain a search warrant before bringing a trained narcotics dog to sniff at a person’s door for illicit drugs.” Professor Colb’s article goes on to consider prior occasions in which the Supreme Court of the United States has considered the constitutionality of searches though dog sniffing.1 Ultimately, the United States Supreme Court denied the application for certiorari in Edstrom v. Minnesota (2019 WL 888181). As a result, it will not be considering the dog-sniff issue raised in that case. Professor Colb’s article made me think about the law of dogsniffing- related searches in my country.

As a result, in this column, I intend to look at how the use of sniffer-dogs searches has been addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada.