A Yukon judge has struck down a section of the territory’s Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) Act that allowed for evictions with just five days’ notice on the grounds that it was unconstitutional.
In a decision published Thursday, Yukon Supreme Court Chief Justice Suzanne Duncan wrote that the government-facilitated, short-notice evictions permitted under the section could cause “extraordinary psychological suffering” amounting to an unjustifiable infringement of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — specifically, the right to “security of the person.”
The ruling marks a victory for legal and community advocates who have been outspoken against the legislation, commonly referred to as SCAN, and the conclusion of a civil case launched by a Whitehorse woman accused of drug trafficking in 2020.
SCAN investigators served Celia Wright with a five-day eviction notice on Dec. 9 that year following complaints about alleged drug activity at her rental property in the city’s Cowley Creek subdivision. While Wright and her spouse were previously arrested by the …