MAN WINS BLOOD, URINE APPEAL

OTTAWA -- Convicted criminals cannot be ordered to surrender blood
and urine samples on demand when they're out of jail on probation,
the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday.

The decision is a victory for an Abbotsford man convicted of sexual
assault, whom a judge ordered to submit fluid samples if required by
police because he had a history of substance abuse.

"The seizure of bodily samples is highly intrusive," wrote Justice
Louise Charron in the unanimous ruling. "It is subject to stringent
standards and safeguards to meet constitutional requirements."

Judges, therefore, cannot order that samples be given without a
federal law in place that deals with privacy concerns, the court concluded.

"There is no question that a probationer has a lowered expectation of
privacy," wrote Charron. "However, it is up to Parliament, not the
courts, to balance the probationers' charter rights as against
society's interest in effectively monitoring their conduct."

Harjit Singh Shoker was sentenced to 20 months in jail and two years
probation for a September 2003 break-and-enter in which he climbed
naked into the bed of an RCMP officer's wife.

The woman called 911, but her husband came home and arrested the
intruder before the local police arrived.

Shoker was convicted of break-and-enter with intent to commit sexual
assault. There was evidence in court that Shoker, then 25, was high
on drugs when he committed his crime and that he had a history of alcohol abuse.