Thu Sep 29, 2022 – 8:15 pm EDT
OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – Records show that 33,373 travelers’ smartphones, tablets, and laptops were searched by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) agents over a four-year period.
As reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, the cabinet of the Canadian federal government disclosed the searches in a reply to a formal Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the House of Commons.
From November 1, 2017, to December 31, 2021, over 33,000 searches on people’s electronic devices were conducted by CBSA agents.
The number of searches peaked in 2018, which was right around the time a legal challenge against the CBSA searches was launched.
CBSA agents were unhindered to search one’s smartphone or other devices when they wanted to up until the year 2020.
In 2020, there was a successful legal challenge against CBSA agents searching one’s smartphone. The Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that random searches by border agents were a breach of Canada’s Charter of Rights And Freedoms.
After the 2020 court ruling, searches plummeted to only 1,794 in 2021.
The court judges wrote that “devices now contain vast amounts of data touching on financial and medical details, the personal likes and propensities
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