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.