Author: Clicklaw Editor

The data on your phone, tablet, or laptop is likely something you consider to be private. We use these devices for so many aspects of our lives now – personal and business emails, writing reminders to ourselves, taking photos and videos of our holidays, banking – the list goes on and on. And for people like for lawyers, journalists and doctors, the information on these devices can include confidential information about others. We carry these devices with us all the time, even when we travel.

Let’s say you’ve gone on a trip outside Canada. What happens when you cross the border back into Canada? Can the border agent search your smart phone? Do you really want them looking at your holiday photos, seeing your business contacts list, reading your emails? Can they search the files on your laptop? Do they have the right to do that?

The BC Civil Liberties Association has recently added a new resource to Clicklaw. The Electronic Devices Privacy Handbook: A Guide to Your Rights is a handbook for people who are crossing the border into Canada. It covers:

• your rights at the Canadian border,
• the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) policies,
• best practices for keeping your information private and secure, and
• what you can do if you’ve been searched.

And before you leave Canada, consider checking out the rules for the country you’re travelling to, as the rules are different wherever you go. The handbook includes a link from the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s online guide to crossing the U.S. border: Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Carrying Digital Devices.

West Coast LEAF has just published a new resource, Separation Agreements: Your Right to Fairness. This plain language booklet is for anyone interested in learning more about the financial issues that arise when a couple separates. It includes tips for managing your own case, how to work well with your lawyer, and information on completing financial statements for court.

The project came out of the Rick v Brandsema case where the Supreme Court of Canada found that the parties’  separation agreement was “unconscionable”, and therefore invalid. After this case, West Coast LEAF reports that they received numerous calls from women and advocates facing the challenge of needing the courts to review unfair separation agreements. To address this need, they’ve produced this resource. It’s part of a larger project to expand women’s knowledge about their rights in family law and will also include a series of workshops for advocates and service providers in BC to educate them about separation agreements. These workshops will take place in the second half of 2012.