The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision today in Vancouver (City) v. Ward, a case in which the CCLA intervened to argue in favour of an award of damages for breach of Charter rights. Mr. Ward was detained and strip searched by police after they received a tip that someone matching his description planned to throw a pie in the Prime Minister’s face at a public event. Mr. Ward had been mistakenly identified and was released over four hours after his arrest. The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the lower courts’ rulings that Mr. Ward is entitled to monetary damages for breach of his s.8 Charter right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
The Court held that damages for breach of a Charter right may be appropriate in order to fulfill the purposes of compensation, vindication of the right, and/or deterrence from future violations. Significantly, the Court held that a person seeking Charter damages need not exhaust other legal remedies and that, once it has been shown that damages would meet one of the purposes set out above, the state bears the burden of showing that other remedies are available to address the breach or that damages would interfere with good governance. The CCLA is pleased that the Court has recognized that damages may be warranted where constitutional rights are violated and is hopeful that the existence of this remedy will help to deter and prevent the abuse of Charter rights.
