I'd like to start by pointing out that certain parts of Bill C-51 are clearly unconstitutional. According to the bill, a judge can authorize violations of the charter. No such precedent exists in the law. I think it's important to stress the fact that none of the legal experts who appeared before the committee stated clearly and in no uncertain terms that the provision was constitutional. Even the Minister of Justice was ambiguous about that. He said that the legislation had been studied and adopted but that no opinion had been formed, pursuant to the Department of Justice Act. If you really consider what he said, you will see that his position wasn't clear.
In short, I would say that certain provisions are clearly unconstitutional. And as for judges being empowered to authorize charter violations, I don't think judges will get on board.
To be clear, when we're talking about search warrants, a search warrant is not authorizing a breach of the charter. A search warrant is authorization for a search that renders the search legal, and therefore is not a breach of the charter. It's very different from saying that you're going to authorize a breach of some other section. Section 8 functions very differently than other sections of the charter. When we talk about section 8 authorizations, those are not charter violations.
We have no precedent in Canadian law for judges authorizing breaches of the charter.