What is the scope of privacy protection in s. 8 of the Charter?

42. [42] The objective of s. 8 of the Charter is to protect the individual’s right of privacy and in particular, a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. In Hunter v. Southam (1984), 1984 CanLII 33 (SCC), 14 C.C.C. (3d) 97 at 108 (S.C.C.), Dickson J. made the following oft-quoted statement on the scope of the s. 8 protection in the context of law enforcement objectives of the state: The guarantee of security from unreasonable search and seizure only protects a reasonable expectation. This limitation on the right guaranteed by s. 8, whether it is expressed negatively as freedom from “unreasonable” search and seizure, or positively as an entitlement to a reasonable expectation of privacy, indicates that an assessment must be made as to whether in a particular situation the public’s interest in being left alone by government must give way to the government’s interest in intruding on the individual’s privacy in order to advance its goals, notably those of law enforcement.