DRUG TRAFFICKER MUST LIKE CANADA

To The Editor:

Jamie Colbert must feel, as most of us do, that Canada is a wonderful
country to live in after he was acquitted of possessing drugs for the
purpose of trafficking by Provincial Court Judge Joseph Michaud
despite being caught by an RCMP officer with a huge amount of
marijuana in his possession.

For those not familiar with the case, Colbert was pulled over near
Salisbury about a year ago because the SUV he was driving had a
burned out tail light. The officer wasn't satisfied with the answers
to questions he put to Mr. Colbert and, as a consequence, suspected
something illegal might be hidden in the vehicle. The officer asked
for, and received, permission from Colbert to allow his drug sniffing
dog Jasper to sniff around the SUV. Jasper's sniffing led to the
discovery of $1.4 million worth of marijuana (155 lbs).

Judge Michaud concluded that the police officer involved conducted
the search on a "hunch based on intuition". This, regardless of the
accuracy of the officer's hunch, did not give him the legal right to
search the vehicle. Obtaining prior permission from the accused,
according to the judge, was irrelevant. Judge Michaud ruled that the
Mountie involved violated the accused's rights by detaining him
without just cause, declared the marijuana to be "inadmissible as
evidence in this case" and then acquitted Mr. Colbert of the charge.

On reading more of your newspaper's account of the event I was amazed
to learn that at least one other Provincial Court judge who heard a
case very similar to this one in a Moncton courtroom ruled search
evidence to be admissible because police had prior permission from the suspect.

I would expect this type of courtroom drama to take place in a comic
book setting or in an episode from The Dukes of Hazzard, not in real
life. Canada is a wonderful place to live, but we are in the 21st
century and still have legislation on the books enabling the events
described above to take place. We have a lot of work to do before we
market ourselves as a model for the rest of the world.

M. Buckley, Riverview