R. v. Cardinal, 1985 ABCA 157
[8] We are told that this case has great significance for police procedure. It is, apparently, common practice for the police to label arrest warrants and not to execute them except within the labelled geographical limits. It is not necessary for us to pass on this general practice because the learned chambers judge decided the case, as I have noted, on much narrower grounds. I will say, however, that I am inclined to the view that if the people of Canada want to put somebody on charge in a criminal case, their Charter does not permit them to do so at their convenience. I presume that so-called “Canada-wide” warrants are so labelled every time that the law enforcement agencies consider the case to be “serious”. Does the Charter permit delays for “non-serious” criminal cases? There is also the question of abuse: do these unexecuted warrants permit a sort of internal passport control in Canada? The Criminal Code does not sanction labelled warrants. It merely provides, in s. 456.3 C.C.C., that a warrant may be executed in the geographical jurisdiction of the signing judge. S. 461 C.C.C. provides that judges elsewhere may validate warrants for other jurisdictions. Thus all warrants can be “Canada-wide”
