R v Oakes

R v Oakes [1986] 1 SCR 103 is a Supreme Court of Canada decision that established the legal test for whether a government action infringing a right under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is justified. David Oakes challenged the validity of provisions under the Narcotic Control Act that provided a person found in possession of a narcotic, absent of evidence to the contrary, must be convicted of trafficking the narcotic. Oakes contented the presumption of trafficking violated the presumption of innocence guarantee under Section 11(d) of the Charter. The Supreme Court established the Oakes test as an analysis of the limitations clause (Section 1) of the Charter that allows reasonable limitations on rights and freedoms through legislation if the limitation is motivated by a "pressing and substantial objective" and can be "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society." Background On December 17, 1981, David Edwin Oakes was arrested in London, Ontario and charged with possession of eight one gram vials of cannabis resin for the purpose of trafficking, a narcotic under Section 4(2) of the Narcotic Control Act. Oakes was also found with CA$619.45 in cash, afterwards he told police he had purchased ten one gram vials of hashish oil for $150 for personal use and the money was from a workers' compensation cheque.