Crown Liability and Proceedings Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-50)

Marginal note:Crown liable for disclosure

• 18. (1) Subject to subsection (2), where a servant of the Crown who has obtained, in the course of that servant’s employment, any information respecting a private communication or a radio-based telephone communication that has been intercepted by means of an electro-magnetic, acoustic, mechanical or other device without the consent, express or implied, of the originator thereof or of the person intended by the originator thereof to receive it, intentionally

  • (a) uses or discloses that private communication or radio-based telephone communication or any part thereof or the substance, meaning or purport thereof or of any part thereof, or

  • (b) discloses the existence thereof,

  the Crown is liable for all loss or damage caused thereby, and for punitive damages in an amount not exceeding five thousand dollars, to each person who incurred that loss or damage.

• Marginal note:Saving provision

  (2) The Crown is not liable for loss or damage or punitive damages referred to in subsection (1) where a servant of the Crown discloses a private communication or a radio-based telephone communication or any part thereof or the substance, meaning or purport thereof or of any part thereof or the existence of a private communication or of a radio-based telephone communication

  • (a) with the consent of the originator of the communication or of the person intended by the originator to receive it;

  • (b) in the course of or for the purpose of giving evidence in any civil or criminal proceedings or in any other proceedings in which the servant of the Crown may be required to give evidence on oath;

  • (c) in the course of or for the purpose of any criminal investigation if the private communication or radio-based telephone communication was not unlawfully intercepted;

  • (d) in giving notice under section 189 of the Criminal Code or furnishing further particulars pursuant to an order under section 190 of that Act;

  • (e) for the purpose of identifying, isolating or preventing an unauthorized or interfering use of a frequency or of a transmission, where the duties of the servant of the Crown include engaging in radio frequency spectrum management; or

  • (f) where disclosure is made to a peace officer or prosecutor in Canada or to a person or authority with responsibility in a foreign state for the investigation or prosecution of offences and is intended to be in the interests of the administration of justice in Canada or elsewhere.

Marginal note:Consent to interception

18.1 Where a private communication or a radio-based telephone communication is originated by more than one person or is intended by the originator to be received by more than one person, a consent to the interception thereof by any one of those persons is sufficient for the purposes of paragraph 17(2)(b) and subsection 18(2).