Cell phone border search bill, with higher search threshold, passes Senate

Late Monday night the Senate passed a reformed version of a bill that seeks to codify the standard in the Customs Act under which Canadian border officials can search a personal digital device. In a rebuke of the government's hopes for the bill, S-7, the Senate passed a bill with a higher threshold for the searches after senators on the National Security and Defence Committee voted to raise the threshold from "reasonable general concern" to "reasonable grounds to suspect." In moving the bill to its third reading Monday, Senator Marc Gold – the government's representative in the Senate – acknowledged that "people of goodwill and good faith can disagree about how best to strike this balance. Indeed, there has been a disagreement about what the legal threshold should be to allow border officers to examine a digital device." He then went on to reiterate the government's reasons for putting forward the reasonable general concern threshold, pointing specifically to the issue of child welfare. The government, Gold said, "does worry that the 'reasonable grounds to suspect' threshold may unduly limit the ability of border officers to interdict illegal activity and detect contraband, including material depicting the exploitation of children." Referring to the fact that the vast majority of witnesses at the committee stage were opposed to the government's preferred lower threshold, Gold said "I would note that it’s much easier to hear testimony in Senate committees from Canadian law professors than from young children or other individuals whose names we don’t know and whose voices we will never likely hear." Despite the amendment raising the threshold for search, Manitoba Senator Martha McCallum said she was still concerned about the possibilities of racial profiling included in the bill. "I fear that the wording and content of this legislation remains dangerously close to enabling this kind of attitude for people in a position of authority," she said, "which already highlights the power imbalance that exists wherein racialized travellers are subordinate and submissive to border officials — individuals who may carry with them unfounded biases or prejudices." McCallum said that she would not support the bill, which then passed on division. The bill now moves to the House of Commons for first reading.

Cell phone border search bill, with higher search threshold, passes Senate

Brief | June 21, 2022

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Cell phone border search bill, with higher search threshold, passes Senate

Brief | June 21, 2022

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