The Journalistic Sources Protection Act: How Does The Scheme Of New Law Influence Search Warrant Authorization?

In the recent decision in R v Laffont,¹ the Court of Québec (CQ) quashed a number of search warrants on the basis that they had been improperly authorized under the general Criminal Code² regime instead of under the specific regime introduced by the Journalistic Sources Protection Act³ (JSPA). The warrants were authorized under the Criminal Code notwithstanding that:

1. the suspect was a journalist;
2. the material to be seized was partially used for professional journalistic purposes; and
3. the locations to be searched included the place of business of a media organization operating a website dedicated exclusively to military news.

The JSPA

The JSPA was enacted in 2017 and served to amend the Canada Evidence Act (CEA) to protect the confidentiality of journalistic sources, and to provide a measure of protection to the right of journalists to privacy in their gathering or dissemination of information.