The right to counsel is not suspended during cannabis searches

Important case released today in R v McGowan-Morris, 2025 ONCA 349. The right to counsel is *not* suspended when police decide to search a vehicle under the Cannabis Control Act. Rights to counsel must be provided at the outset of a CCA search unless the police are faced with exceptional circumstances, such as immediate and pressing safety concerns: see paras 97-100. There is *no blanket suspension* of right to counsel under the CCA.

Additionally, Trotter JA found that s. 10(a) of the Charter does not require that police explain that they are searching the vehicle and its occupants under the CCA. It is sufficient "to simply tell them that they were stopped because they could not have cannabis in the vehicle": para 42.

This is a big case that will impact a lot of criminal litigation. I suspect that one way or another, this will be going upstairs.