1) Are Police Allowed to Knock on My Door to Talk to Me?
Yes. There is an implied license that lets anyone, including the police, walk up to your door and knock to communicate. That license does not authorize police approaching for the purpose of gathering evidence, for example, police coming specifically to smell for drugs through the open doorway. If police approach your residence to gather evidence, they must have a search warrant. If police exceed the communication purpose, they may be conducting a search that engages s. 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
You may revoke or limit the implied license by posting signs that say for example, “No trespassing/No soliciting/No police without a warrant,” locked gate, or clear verbal instruction. Your revocation of the implied license must be clear and exercised lawfully.
If you do not want to talk to the police, do not open the door just to chat, and do not consent to their entry.
Ask through the closed door or doorbell camera:
“Do you have a warrant?”
If the police say yes, tell the police: “Please show the warrant (at camera/at the window). I do not consent to entry beyond the warrant’s scope.”
You’re entitled to view the address, scope, date/time, and authorizing judge details. If the warrant is valid the police are entitled to enter your property.
If the police say no, tell the police: “I do not consent to any entry or search. I choose not to speak. Please leave my property.”
The police must show the warrant before entering, if it is feasible to do so. In most situations it is feasible. The exceptions to feasibility are genuine safety of police/public, destruction-of-evidence emergencies or practical impossibility.
If police refuse to show a warrant or only show an ID:
Tell the police: “I do not consent to entry without seeing the warrant. Please show it as required by section 29 of the Criminal Code.”
Criminal Code s. 29(1) states: It is the duty of every one who executes a process or warrant to have it with him, where it is feasible to do so, and to produce it when requested to do so.
This means the officer has a duty to have the warrant with them and if you (or another occupant) ask to see it, the officer must show it before or as soon as feasible during execution. The purpose is to let the person affected verify that the warrant is genuine, issued by a judge or justice, and applies to that location.
Document politely: Note names/badge numbers, time, what was said, where officers went, and anything seized.
However, if the police enter without a warrant citing “exigent circumstances” or “hot pursuit,” do not interfere. The Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Feeney said that hot pursuit is an exception for police to enter without citing a warrant and “exigency” circumstances are narrow and fact-specific exceptions. If police violate your Charter rights, your remedy is after, with a Charter application; do not physically resist.
Absent hot pursuit and limited exigency circumstances, police need a warrant authorizing entry inside a home, plus proper “knock-and-announce.” Detention inside the home triggers s. 10(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms immediately. Police questioning must stop until a lawyer is available. If you are detained or arrested (inside or at the threshold), insist on your right to speak to a lawyer immediately.
Tell the police, “I want to speak to a lawyer now. I am not answering questions.”
Do not make statements or “explain” anything.
2) If the Police Knock on My Door and There Is No Warrant, Do I Have to Answer?
No. You are not legally required to open the door or speak with police. It is your residence, and therefore you do not have to answer the door if you don’t want to.
Although you do not have to answer the door, if the police came with a warrant to enter the property, and you don’t answer, the police will use force to open the door.
