No Privacy - FBI Has Personal Data On Edmonton Lawyer

Revenue Canada, meanwhile, has pledged to look under its own rocks to find out if it was responsible for turning over personal financial information from Engel's law office to American authorities. "We're going to try to find out where this came from," said department spokesman Ron Quinn, adding he "couldn't think of any circumstances" under which Revenue Canada would release such information to U.S. authorities. Sims told The Sun this week he found financial data linked to Engel's firm in an immigration file he requested from the U.S. government as part of his battle against deportation to Canada. The information included personal income, taxes paid, Canada Pension Plan contributions and social insurance numbers. Engel represented late broadcaster Keith Rutherford when he filed suit against Sims and other white supremacists for their violent attack on him in Sherwood Park in 1990. Sims was convicted for the attack that year but later moved to the U.S. He is now being detained by U.S. authorities pending his deportation back to Canada. Sims told The Sun his immigration file also included documents from the Edmonton Police Service and Alberta RCMP. Neither agency is planning its own investigation. Tim Chander, spokesman for the provincial Information and Privacy Commissioner's office, said commissioner Frank Work will investigate the EPS's contribution to the file. Privacy law experts were scratching their heads yesterday over the data leak. Ontario lawyer Ross Wells said Engel may have a lot of trouble getting answers out of the Americans. "American privacy law is pretty much non-existent," he said. "Obviously some Canadian agency gave this information to the U.S. government - but I can't think of why, or how it could have been obtained legally." "In the U.S., law enforcement authorities have a great deal of latitude in collecting personal information and a lot of legal immunity while they're doing it," said Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa. Engel said the whole incident has him and his family thinking about the so-called Overtime Lounge affair, in which EPS officers are alleged to have set up a drunk-driving sting to capture police commission chairman Martin Ignasiak and Sun columnist Kerry Diotte. "My wife's taking it harder than I am. She's starting to wonder if we should worry about our personal security."