Saying police breach the human rights of Nunavummiut when they use a drug-sniffer dog without a warrant, an Iqaluit lawyer wants the RCMP to return money seized during a random search of his client last year.
"The Charter [of Rights and Freedoms] protects us from unreasonable search and seizure," said Chris Debicki, a lawyer with the Maliiganik Tukisiiniakvik legal aid office.
"These things have a real application in terms of our privacy generally and not just a few of my clients who are working their way through the legal system. This is our packages, our luggage, our persons."
Debicki's client, Isacky Naglingniq, 26, tried to ship a box containing almost $8,000 and some computer software to a man in Ottawa last year.
In court documents, Naglingniq said the money was meant to cover the purchase of a snowmobile and a food order in the South, as well as to repay a debt.
The air cargo box never made it to Ottawa, though. The RCMP's drug-sniffer dog Bart zeroed in it, so it was opened and the contents seized, even though police didn't find any drugs inside.
Debicki said he can't figure out why police would bring in a dog to check packages without a search warrant. He also said he can't understand why the RCMP would look for drugs in a package being sent south from Iqaluit, given the lack of marijuana grow operations in Nunavut's capital.
Neither Naglingniq nor the man in Ottawa to whom he was mailing the box was charged with any offence, but the Crown kept the money and software.
Now Debicki is asking a Nunavut court judge to order the property returned to his client.
Naglingniq will testify in August. The police officer in charge of the search is scheduled to testify in September.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.