Case information

None.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Criminal law – Appeals – Offence of producing cannabis – Circumstantial evidence – Lack of direct evidence that Appellant aided or participated in offence – Whether majority of Court of Appeal erred in finding that Appellant's presence at site of crop was circumstantial evidence – Whether majority of Court of Appeal erred in basing guilty verdict on evidence of opportunity and knowledge of activity – Whether majority of Court of Appeal erred in finding that evidence gathered had characteristics consistent with principles of criminal law and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Sections 7(1) and 7(2)(b) of Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, S.C. 1996, c. 19.

On Wednesday, August 25, 2004, after being told that cannabis was being grown in the Laurentians region, police surrounded the premises and arrested five individuals. Arias Miguel Jackson was arrested in a tent at the site of the crop.

Jackson's defence was that he had been camping there since Monday. He also said that he had done nothing there except sleep and eat.

Jackson was convicted of producing cannabis. He appealed his conviction, arguing that the trial judge had reached an unreasonable verdict given the total lack of evidence that he had participated or aided in the production of cannabis. He also argued that the trial judge had erred in his legal assessment of Jackson's presence at the scene of the offence. The majority of the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.