Pubdate: Thu, 01 May 2008 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2008 The Gazette, a division of Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: Janice Tibbets, Canwest News Service Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?237 (Drug Dogs) SNIFFER DOGS HERE TO STAY, DAY SAYS Top Court Rulings Aren't Licence To Carry Drugs And Other Contraband, He Insists Canadians will continue to see scent-tracking dogs doing random searches at airports and lawmakers are considering new ways for canines to sniff out other public places, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day says. With a trained Labrador retriever named Shelly at his side, Day held a news conference yesterday at Ottawa airport to warn that two rulings from the Supreme Court of Canada last week do not amount to a licence to carry illicit drugs and other contraband in public places. The decisions cleared an Ontario high school student and a Vancouver man of drug charges on the grounds that random sniffer-dog searches violated the Charter of Rights protection against unreasonable search and seizure in a school and bus depot, respectively. Police will persist in using the dogs for routine searches at airports, border stations and federal prisons, Day said. "I am wanting to make sure that anybody out there who is thinking of transporting contraband or explosive material or items like that, I am sending a message very clearly, that (we) will continue to use sniffer dogs in these facilities," he said. Day acknowledged, however, that other locations, such as schools and bus stations, are more problematic, after the top court ruled police must have a reasonable suspicion of a crime before allowing their dogs to sniff out the public. Day said he does not like the rulings and officials in the Justice and Public Safety Departments are looking at ways to allow sniffer dogs to help protect the public from drugs and bombs. He hinted Ottawa is prepared to craft a new law that revives police powers weakened by the Supreme Court, but he did not elaborate. While the top court effectively wiped out random searches in some public places, the decisions were silent on airports, which are governed by stricter security laws. Several Supreme Court rulings have established privacy rights are lower when weighed against the need to secure the borders, setting precedents that legal experts say would entitle police to use their scent-tracking dogs in airports. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom