COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO - Fairburn A.C.J.O.:

As I will explain, Mahal is not the first case to say that the Hunter-compliant standard of reasonable grounds to Page: 4 believe that the interception of private communications “will assist” the investigation applies only to the authorization as a whole, and not on an individualized basis. [...] PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND (1) The investigation [8] The appellant’s son was being investigated for the murder of a man who was stabbed to death outside an Ottawa nightclub.1 In the context of the murder investigation, the police obtained a s. [...] This court held that a proper application of the Garofoli standard of review resulted in only one possible finding: that it was open to the application judge to conclude that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the interception of the respondent’s private communications might assist in the investigation of a murder in which his son was the prime suspect”: Hafizi ONCA #1, at para. [...] 148, he explained the test as follows: “[p]rovided investigators know the identity of the person and have reasonable … grounds to believe that the interception of that Page: 25 person’s private communications may assist the investigation of an offence, that person is a ‘known’ for the purposes of s. [...] explained that while the term “best interests of the administration of justice” is a broad one, incapable of precise definition, it admits of two clearly identifiable elements: (a) that the issuing judge be satisfied that “the granting of the authorization will further or advance the objectives of justice”; and Page: 28 (b) that the interests of law enforcement and individual personal privacy will.