Category: New on Clicklaw

Have you ever had a conflict with someone in your life? Did you ignore it and hope it would go away? Did you hire a lawyer to argue your case at all costs to “win”? Did you do something inbetween? There are many different ways to handle conflict.

For certain types of conflict, one option may be to take your case to an administrative tribunal to decide. There are many costs associated with this option. It can cost you money, energy, and time. It can also damage your relationship with the person with whom you have a conflict, and you may not get the result that you want.

The Justice Education Society, in partnership with the BC Council of Administrative Tribunals and with funding from the Ministry of Justice, has created a new section on their Administrative Law website on Resolving Disputes before they escalate. This includes four animated videos:

1. Choosing a Dispute Resolution Option
2. Understanding Disputes
3. Preparing for a Tough Talk
4. Negotiating a Solution

The messages are clear and concise, offering simple yet effective suggestions you can choose to try out to resolve a conflict before it escalates. My favourite is Preparing for a Tough Talk. Have a look and post your thoughts on our blog!

The Administrative Law BC site also includes a glossary of terms used in administrative law and administrative hearings (tribunals), and a directory of tribunals in BC.

Another option to consider for certain types of conflict is mediation. For more information on this option, check out Clicklaw’s common question What can mediation help me with? And if you want to get legal advice about a conflict, you can find legal help in your community on Clicklaw’s HelpMap.

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.