This case was heard in the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia.

Mr. Bagnell applied for a permit to infill a parcel of wetland on property that he owned. The Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour ("NSEL") referred his application to the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans ("DFO"), which indicated that approval should not be granted. NSEL then rejected Mr. Bagnell’s application on the basis that the work would result in the harmful alteration or destruction of fish habitat, contrary to the federal Fisheries Act.

Later, the DFO was alerted to the possibility that Mr. Bagnell might be carrying out prohibited work on his property, and it began to investigate. Eventually, charges were laid against Mr. Bagnell alleging that he had violated the federal Fisheries Act. In turn, Mr. Bagnell argued that officials from NSEL and the DFO had entered his property without permission and without warrants on numerous occasions during their investigations, and that the evidence assembled during those entries should not be permitted in the case against him.

After considering the relevant law and legal principles, the Court held that most of the evidence gathered by NSEL and the DFO was admissible; however, it ruled that a DFO officer had acted unlawfully by entering Mr. Bagnell’s property without a warrant and without permission after formal charges had been laid. The evidence gathered after the charges were laid was therefore excluded from the proceeding.

View the Decision on CanLII: https://www.canlii.org/en/ns/nspc/doc/2004/2004nspc29/2004nspc29.html

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