Part 4 — Unusual Situations
48.1 Tele-warrants
(a) a safety codes officer has reasonable grounds to believe that
there is in a place anything that will afford evidence as to
the investigation,
(b) a person refuses to allow a safety codes officer to exercise
that officer's powers under this Act or interferes or attempts
to interfere with a safety codes officer in the exercise of that
officer's powers under this Act, and
(c) it would be impracticable to appear personally before a
justice to make an application for a search warrant,
the safety codes officer may submit an information on oath to a
justice by telephone or other means of telecommunication.
(2) An information submitted by telephone or other means of
telecommunication must be recorded verbatim by the justice, who
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must, as soon as practicable, cause to be filed with the clerk of the
Alberta Court of Justice nearest to the area in which the
tele-warrant is intended for execution, the record or a transcription
of the record certified by the justice as to time, date and contents.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), an oath may be
administered by telephone or other means of telecommunication.
(4) An information on oath submitted by telephone or other means
of telecommunication must include
(a) a statement of the circumstances that make it impracticable
for the safety codes officer to appear personally before a
justice,
(b) a statement of the place to be searched and the things
alleged to be liable to seizure in respect of the investigation,
(c) a statement of the safety codes officer's grounds for
believing that things liable to seizure in respect of the
investigation will be found in the place to be searched, and
(d) a statement as to any prior application under this section or
any other warrant or order issued or applied for in respect of
the same matter of which the safety codes officer has
knowledge.
(5) A justice who is satisfied that an information on oath submitted
by telephone or other means of telecommunication
(a) is in respect of an investigation under this Act and conforms
to the requirements of subsection (4),
(b) discloses reasonable grou nds for dispensing with an
information presented personally and in writing, and
(c) discloses reasonable grounds for the issuance of a search
warrant in respect of the investigation,
may issue a tele-warrant to a safety codes officer and may require
that the tele-warrant be executed within any time period that the
justice may order.
(6) A tele-warrant issued under this section may confer the same
authority as may be conferred by a warrant issued by a justice
before whom the safety codes officer appears personally.
(7) If a justice issues a tele-warrant under subsection (5),
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(a) the justice must complete and sign the tele-warrant in the
form prescribed in the regulations, noting on its face the
date, time and place of issuance,
(b) the safety codes officer, on th e direction of the justice, must
complete, in duplicate, a facsimile of the tele-warrant in the
form prescribed in the regulations, noting on its face the
name of the issuing justice and the date, time and place of
issuance, and
(c) the justice must, as soon as practicable after the tele-warrant
has been issued, cause the tele-warrant to be filed with the
clerk of the Alberta Court of Justice nearest to the area in
which the tele-warrant is intended for execution.
(8) A safety codes officer who executes a tele-warrant issued
under subsection (5) must, before entering the place to be
investigated, or as soon as is practicable afterwards, give a
facsimile of the tele-warrant to any person present and ostensibly in
control of the place.
(9) A safety codes officer who, in any unoccupied place, executes
a tele-warrant issued under subsection (5) must, on entering the
place or as soon as is practicable afterwards, cause a facsimile of
the tele-warrant to be suitably affixed in a prominent location
within the place.
(10) A safety codes officer to whom a tele-warrant is issued under
subsection (5) must file a written report with the clerk of the
Alberta Court of Justice nearest to the area in which the
tele-warrant was executed as soon as is practicable but not more
than 7 days after the tele-warrant was executed, which report must
include
(a) a statement of the time and date the tele-warrant was
executed, or if the tele-warrant was not executed, a
statement of the reasons why it was not executed,
(b) a statement of the things, if an y, that were seized pursuant to
the tele-warrant and the location where they are being held,
and
(c) a statement of the informat ion, data, records, reports,
documents and things, if any, that were seized in addition to
the things mentioned in the tele-warrant and the location
where they are being held, together with a statement of the
safety codes officer's grounds for believing that those
additional things provide evidence relevant to the unsafe
condition, accident or fire under investigation.
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(11) The clerk of the Alberta Court of Justice with whom a written
report is filed pursuant to subsection (10) must, as soon as is
practicable, cause the report, together with the information on oath
and a copy of the tele-warrant to which it pertains, to be brought
before a justice to be dealt with in respect of anything that was
seized and is referred to in the report, in the same manner as if the
things were seized pursuant to a search warrant issued by a justice
on an information presented personally by a safety codes officer.
(12) In any proceeding in which it is material for a court to be
satisfied that a search or seizure was authorized by a tele-warrant
issued under subsection (5), the absence of a copy of the
information on oath, transcribed and certified by the justice as to
the time, date and contents, or a copy of the tele-warrant, signed by
the justice and carrying on its face a notation of the time, date and
place of issuance, is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary,
proof that the search or seizure was not authorized by a
tele-warrant issued under subsection (5).
2015 c10 s23;AR 75/2023