Trimax – Quebec Court of Appeal invalidates a law firm search for failure of the information to demonstrate that there was no alternative for getting the documents

Hilton JCA applied the principle in Lavalee, [2002] 3 S.C.R. 209 - that “before searching a law office, the investigative authorities must satisfy the issuing justice that there exists no other reasonable alternative to the search” - to invalidate a search warrant that had been given to the ARQ to search a Montreal law firm’s premises for documents relating to a client who was suspected of claiming input tax refunds/credits on fictitious inputs (so that the seized documents were ordered to be returned.) The information laid before the issuing judge had not addressed any absence of an alternative solution – and Hilton JCA also chided the ARQ for failure to disclose the “material fact” that the law firm in question was acting for the client in the tax dispute with the ARQ.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of 9162-4676 Québec Inc. (known as Trimax) v. ARQ, 2016 QCCA 962 under s. 231.3(3).