Social Issues – Legal Drift Canada

Who Can Access My Facebook After My Death?

Meghna 0 Comments canada privacy rights of dead, digital death canada, facebook after death, facebook death policy, fiduciary access death, post mortem privacy rights canada, privacy rights canada, rights of estate administrators post death, social media death

We are living two lives, one in tangible form and the other in digital persona. According to statistics, 66.8 percent of the population in Canada accessed social media in the year 2019. It is expected that by 2025 the percentage would increase to 81.5 percent. Most Canadians have social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and others. But who owns our digital accounts post our death? Does post-mortem privacy prevent the right to access these digital assets?

Post-mortem Privacy

There have been several instances where the parents of a pre-deceased child wish to use or see the content of the deceased’s social media account. Does accessing this information violate the post-mortem privacy rights?

In Canada, for private sectors, personal information cannot be disclosed without one’s knowledge or consent under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The Act is applicable when a Canadian’s personal information is collected …

Privacy Laws Social Issues

Can you protect the privacy of your court documents from public?

Meghna 0 Comments canadian privacy laws, court case documents access, court order privacy, estate trustee right to privacy, privacy and canada, private sensitive information, right to dignity and privacy, right to privacy and court openness, right to privacy in canada, sealing orders right to privacy, sherman case, Sherman Estate v. Donovan

On December 15, 2017, philanthropist billionaire couple Bernard and Honey Sherman were found dead in their Toronto home. To date, the identities of their alleged perpetrators are unknown and deaths are being investigated as homicides. The estate trustees obtained sealing orders for the probate files. A sealing order prohibits access to information to anyone except the parties identified in the order. The sealing orders can be obtained by the court or mandated by the criminal code.

However, these orders were challenged by the renowned newspaper. Although the application judge sealed the probate files, the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed the appeal and revoked the sealing orders. The case was finally decided by the Supreme Court of Canada. Interestingly, the case delves around significant issues of court openness, privacy rights, and the right to dignity.

In Sherman Estate v. Donovan, 2021 SCC 25 (CanLII), the SCC evaluated the facts of …

Social Issues

Can you be Imprisoned for Beating your Child in Canada?

Meghna 0 Comments beating child in canada, can i beat my kids, child rights canada, corporal punishment canada, law on child rights, law relating to children, parental rights in canada, physical assault canada, physical assualt on children, punishment children

Have you ever been worried that a school teacher may hit your child to instill discipline? Would such a teacher be imprisoned for this outrageous act? In most western countries corporal punishment is illegal. Such a teacher would face dire legal consequences. However, Canada might be the only developed nation which permits reasonable use of force against children by teachers, parents, and caregivers. Interestingly, Section 43 of the Canadian Criminal Code states that

“Every schoolteacher, parent or person standing in the place of a parent is justified in using force by way of correction toward a pupil or child, as the case may be, who is under his care if the force does not exceed what is reasonable under the circumstances”

Thus section 43 grants permission to school teachers, parents and/or guardians to use reasonable force against a child, in order to correct his/her behavior. The section can be widely …

Social Issues

How Secularism Bill 21 can lead Quebec into a Catch 22 Situation?

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Canada is a multicultural society where people from different sects, creeds, race, and nationality live in harmony and peace. People take pride in sharing their cultural values and celebrating their unique identity. However, a proposed bill in Quebec might change the way of life for some Canadians and their future generations forever. The Quebec Secularism Bill is being criticized for imposing restrictions on the cultural identity of people especially Sikhs and Muslim Women.

History Behind The Controversial Secularism Bill

It all started when a 29 year old Egyptian immigrant, who was studying a French-language course at the CEGEP, was asked to unveil herself. Upon her refusal to do so, she was removed from the government-sponsored program for wearing a niqab. This led to the ongoing debate of whether not allowing Muslim women to wear their veils amounts to cultural suppression or is it vital to ensure secularist attributes of the …

Social Issues

Can you commit adultery without having sex? Canadian Law Says Yes

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Canada is the only country in the world where adultery can be committed without having actual sexual intercourse. Ordinarily, adultery is defined as having voluntary sexual intercourse between a married individual and any person other than his/her spouse. The term “voluntary sexual intercourse” is extremely relevant to constitute adultery. Thus, emotional cheating or lack of consummation would not amount to adultery.

However, in Canada, a landmark judgment in the year 1921 changed everything. The court interpreted the concept of adultery on the basis of reproductive invasion and not merely fornication.

What was Orford v. Orford, 1921 CanLII 471 (ON SC) all about?

In Orford v. Orford , the husband contended that his wife committed adultery as she bore a child outside of their wedlock. The wife, on the other hand, argued that the child was born from artificial insemination and she did not engage in any sexual activity. It was …