Law360 Canada ( January 3, 2018, 8:36 AM EST) -- Application by the Crown for an assistance order. Talbot was arrested for second degree murder and a cellphone was located on his person. The police obtained a search warrant authorizing them to seize and forensically examine the cellphone. However, the phone was locked using a swipe pattern and the attempts to bypass the security had failed. The only other possible method to enter the phone offered no guarantees and risked causing permanent loss of the data and potential evidence from the cellphone. The Crown was therefore seeking an order pursuant to section 487.02 of the Criminal Code, requiring Talbot to assist the police in accessing his cellphone by providing the screen lock passcodes or PIN codes. The Defence took the position that the mere act of compelling an accused to assist the police was in violation of the accused’s section 7 Charter rights. The Defence submitted that the assistance order compelled Talbot to be used as an instrument of the state in order to obtain potentially incriminating evidence to bolster the case against him. The Defence further submitted that the swipe pattern was a product of Talbot’s thought process and provided the gateway to stored information which was intensely personal and would reveal intimate details about Talbot’s life....