Here's the section of the law that he was charged under:
False statements, evasion of duties
153. No person shall
(b) to avoid compliance with this Act or the regulations,
(i) destroy, alter, mutilate, secrete or dispose of records or books of account,
(ii) make, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the making of, false or deceptive entries in records or books of account, or
(iii) omit, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the omission of, a material particular from records or books of account;
I'm not a lawyer, but I would be pretty dismayed if a court agrees that this covers withholding a password.
I"m a US lawyer, and uh, this looks remarkably weak of a charge unless their is some canadian precedent somewhere that says "records or books of account" covers "random shit on non-business phone"
False statements, evasion of duties
153. No person shall
(b) to avoid compliance with this Act or the regulations, (i) destroy, alter, mutilate, secrete or dispose of records or books of account, (ii) make, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the making of, false or deceptive entries in records or books of account, or (iii) omit, or participate in, assent to or acquiesce in the omission of, a material particular from records or books of account;
I'm not a lawyer, but I would be pretty dismayed if a court agrees that this covers withholding a password.