What is the test for balancing the relevant competing interests of privacy and public interest?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from R. v. Liu, 2011 BCSC 1266 (CanLII):
The appropriate test for balancing the relevant competing interests was articulated by Dickson J. in Hunter v. Southam Inc., 1984 CanLII 33 (SCC), [1984] SCJ 36, 11 DLR (4th) 641at pp. 159-60 as follows: [A]n assessment must be made as to whether in a particular situation the public's interest in being left alone by government must give way to the government's interest in intruding on the individual's privacy in order to advance its goals, notably those of law enforcement. Where the constitutional line of “reasonableness” will be drawn then becomes a function of both the importance of the state objective and the degree of impact on the individual's privacy interest.
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