Canadian and US courts have held that border enforcement agents have a broad authority to search electronic devices. When crossing borders, lawyers need to be aware that this authority could result in border enforcement agents searching electronic devices that may contain the confidential information of their clients. This paper is intended to provide an overview of legal principles applicable to searching electronic devices at the borders of Canada and the United States as they apply to lawyers, and to the public generally.

This paper was presented at LESA’s Alberta Legal Technology Conference webinar on June 4, 2021.