Decades after the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights,
and Freedoms, and after thousands of Miranda warnings on TV, most
Canadians think they have a right to remain silent when the
government comes after them.
To some extent, this is true–people pulled off the
street by uniformed police almost never have a legal obligation to
answer questions, with obvious exceptions when keeping silent would
expose others to harm, such as the obligations to report spills and
communicable diseases.
For routine matters, though, regulated businesses actually have
very little privacy, or rights to silence, vis-à-vis their
regulators. There are numerous reporting obligations for regulated
communities, from income tax returns to the National Pollutant
Release Inventory, with the census thrown in for good measure. Many
statutes, such as the Ontario Water Resources Act and
Environmental Protection Act, give inspectors the rights
to enter private property, go through files, take
