HTTP/1.0 200 OK Content-Type: text/html Civil Liberties Union Opposes Proposed Amendments 
Pubdate: Mon, 10 Apr 2006
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: James Weldon, North Shore News
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OPPOSES PROPOSED AMENDMENTS

NORTH VANCOUVER - A proposed law aimed at locating marijuana grow 
operations could be a valuable weapon in the battle to drive them 
from the North Shore, say authorities, but the proposed rule change 
is also raising hackles among privacy advocates.

If passed Bill 25, The Safety Standards Amendment Act, introduced in 
the provincial legislature Thursday, will grant municipalities the 
right to access electricity records of BC Hydro customers without 
going through the judicial system. Under the proposed law, local 
governments could then pass on any of that information to their 
police force for further investigation.

The law is meant to make it easier for police to spot growing 
operations, which typically devour power at a high rate, but the move 
has civil liberties advocates fuming.

"Anything I do in my home is my business. It's nobody else's unless 
the state has a compelling interest and justification for accessing 
my information," said Murray Mollard, executive director of the B.C. 
Civil Liberties Union.

Currently, police must demonstrate reasonable grounds for suspicion 
and then obtain a search warrant to access the personal records of a 
hydro customer. "This provision actually provides a back door for 
undermining that," said Mollard. The proposed law is part of a larger 
pattern of legal erosion of privacy in Canada, he added.

But police officials aren't buying that argument.

"The safety of the community outweighs any concerns that individuals 
might express about hydro consumption being disclosed to the police 
or fire agencies," said Sgt. Paul Skelton of the West Vancouver 
Police Department.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman