Canada is very aggressive about searching for "hate speech" at the border. This includes mandating that you turn over your phone and searching through your texts, emails and any linked accounts for keywords. This is personal experience.
I saw this on their border security reality TV show, but neither I, nor anyone I know, has ever had their phone searched visiting Canada. I've been curious how often they do it. What were your circumstances?
If that show is to be believed, they aren't looking for hate speech. They are looking for the person who says they are just visiting, and then has all kinds of text messages about when they start their new job, or how they are looking forward to moving there.
This was driving across the border for an extended vacation. I'm not going to post every detail, but I had a vague itinerary and I completely understand why we got extra questions. However, I hadn't done anything suspicious at all. It is a question of rights, and as a non Canadian citizen, you have no rights other than to decide not to go to Canada anymore. They were looking for evidence of drug smuggling, proof that I could financially afford to take care of myself if something went wrong, and "hate speech". That is what the officer said. You may find this reasonable, but how thoroughly they search your phone is entirely up to the officer at the border, and they have every ability to just image your phone.
I've crossed the US/Canadian border probably a dozen times in the last 3 years and have never been asked about this, or asked to see my phone. The Canadians seemed much more concerned about guns and drugs/alcohol. It was actually worse coming back into the US than getting into Canada (I am a US citizen with passport for comparison purposes).
I'll say that wasn't my experience, it was just about trying to verify my position, but maybe they decided to look into other stuff, they certainly didnt tell me or take my phone.
