Yellowknife (May 05/03) - The line between public safety and our right to privacy is a thin one.

If we talk to a therapist, priest or lawyer, they are bound by confidentiality rules. In other words, they keep our secrets.

But what are the exceptions?

Tony Simmonds is a psychologist and manager of family counselling at the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority.

Before you lie down on his couch and bear your soul, Simmonds explains the rules and the exceptions.

Everything you say is confidential, he tells patients. Unless you tell him you're thinking about harming yourself or someone else. Then he is required by law to tell the police. He must also report any information about child abuse or neglect.

While he said he believes "it's possible" this law could prevent patients from opening up completely, he believes it's necessary.

"You can be caring and compassionate," he said. "But that compassion shouldn't override your legal obligation to inform the police if someone intends to harm themselves or someone else."

Police can also subpoena your files and force your therapist to testify about your sessions.

"We may like it, we may not like it," said Simmonds. "But a court can come and take the files."

Beyond this, a therapist releases files only with a patient's signed consent. The Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority keeps filing cabinets locked and shreds files after six years.

Sometimes an auditor examines a therapists files for quality control reasons, said Simmonds, but names and all identifying information are not revealed during these checks.

About eight years ago, before moving to Yellowknife, Simmonds reported a client who told him she was going home to beat her husband with a bat. He called police and they intercepted the assault.

Simmonds' files were also subpoenaed about five years ago when a client was fired for going on stress leave.

"Her manager didn't see stress leave as a good enough reason for being off work and fired the client," said Simmonds. His files and testimony proved otherwise and she was reinstated.

Father Joe Dayley is guided by the same basic rules when counselling his parishioners at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Yellowknife.

However, the rules surrounding disclosure are completely different when it comes to confession.

Catholic Church law dictates what you whisper to a priest during confession remains under wraps forever -- with no exceptions. Priests are bound under severe penalties to maintain absolute secrecy. According to the Canon -- the Catholic Church's law book -- it is "wholly forbidden to use knowledge acquired in confession to the detriment of the penitent."

But what if someone confesses a plan to commit murder?

Dayley prays he'll never find himself faced with that dilemma. If it did happen, he would do everything in his power to change the person's mind. But in the end, he "would still feel obligated by the sacramental seal."

The Catholic Church's laws can "quite flexible" in other areas, but when it comes to confession, the law is black and white.

"There's a sacred trust there," he said. "There's no wriggle room."

If subpoenaed, Dayley said, he would rather face the consequences (which could mean jail time) rather than break this sacred trust.

Paul Smith, president of the Canadian Bar Association's NWT branch, said it's only lawyer-client privilege that is fully recognized in the eyes of the law.

Wives and husbands are usually not asked to testify about conversations they have while married. But priests, therapists, journalists and others aren't granted absolute privilege.

Lawyers are obligated to not divulge information they discuss with their clients -- with three exceptions.

They must report a client if they have reasonable grounds to believe a crime is likely to be committed. They can also release information if a client consents, or when the law requires them to.

For instance, the Canadian government enacted a Proceeds of Crime (money laundering) Act in 2001, which requires lawyers to report "suspicious transactions" by their clients to the federal government or face fines and possible prison terms.

The legislation was challenged in the B. C. Supreme Court soon after, resulting in a suspension of the legislation.

The federal government is now reviewing the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Smith said he believes legislation like this is cause for concern because it changes the role of lawyer from an advocate on behalf of the client to a whistle blower.

He said a lawyer's first and foremost obligation is to clients, and this legislation turns lawyers into government informants.

"Obviously, those two roles don't jive," he said.

Clients may be less frank with lawyers, and lawyers may not know whether information clients give them meets the definition of a suspicious transaction.

"It runs counter to the role lawyers have traditionally played."