In that 30-second question you have really demonstrated, for all present and all tuning in, the complexity of this and the onerous requirements on police to not only understand the law but also to carry out their duties in a way that complies with not only the Criminal Code but other legislation including PIPEDA. I'll try to answer your question, and if I might say so it's great to have a practitioner here who will be taking part in this important examination of the bill. I commend you for that, Mr. Wilks.
What is a preservation demand? As you know, this is a legally binding request from law enforcement to be able to go out and seek to gather evidence, to seek to have that evidence prevented from disappearing, in the virtual context of the Internet we're talking about here. The new aspect of this, where you can ask at a minimum standard that evidence not be deleted, is what we're attempting to put in place here. To give the police the ability to say that until we're able to gather this evidence, you, the holder of this evidence, cannot make it disappear. Whether intentionally or otherwise, you cannot prevent us from taking a look at that important evidence that we feel will further our investigation. It may exonerate, which is another very real possibility in the examination of evidence.
What we're attempting to do here doesn't give authority to access the actual information. It simply says that we want you to preserve it, to hold onto it until such time, in most instances you can get that higher threshold of judicial oversight, that says now you can go in and look at the actual content of what may be there.
In old-fashioned terms, it's to prevent somebody from interfering with a crime scene. I believe it's meant to ensure that the data will exist when the police come back with the proper judicial authority to go further. It's non-renewable, so it puts a limit on the time in which police have to act, which is fair, and if authorities don't return within a certain amount of time, then the owner, the possessor of that material, has the right to do with it what they please. In fact, very often it may be erased or deleted.
Disclosure of historical information, court order, third-party involvement—all of this is covered, and it is on that standard of “reasonable grounds to believe”, which you are very familiar with.
Thank you.