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.