Government prematurely ends debate on Bill C-22 without dealing with dangerous surveillance powers

OpenMedia condemns ramming through of secret-order regime days before the House rises

June 16, 2026— OpenMedia is condemning the federal government's decision today to block any committee debate of Part 2 of Bill C-22, the most dangerous and widely criticized portion of its lawful access legislation. The government has chosen to silence scrutiny of and fixes to powers that will compromise the security of every person in Canada.

Part 2 of Bill C-22 enacts the proposed Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act. It would let the Minister of Public Safety issue secret orders compelling apps, messaging services, and other providers to build government access into their systems — orders that come with mandatory, permanent gag rules and no meaningful judicial check. It is structurally similar to the provisions the UK attempted to use to secretly order Apple to strip encryption from iCloud, and which led to the end of advanced encryption for iCloud storage in the UK.

Companies and experts have widely condemned this portion of Bill C-22. Signal has said it will leave the Canadian market rather than comply. Windscribe is preparing to move its headquarters out of the country, and NordVPN has warned it may follow. Apple and Meta have raised public alarms about what the bill does to encryption and cybersecurity. The Citizen Lab, Professor Michael Geist, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Cybersecurity Advisors Network, and a long line of legal and security experts have all called for Part 2 to go back to the drawing board. Even the bill's own watchdog, the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency, told the committee it lacks the access it would need to oversee these new powers. 

Every one of those voices was asking for more scrutiny of Part 2. Today the government decided there will be none.

"This is exactly what people warned would happen when this government cobbled together a majority and seized control of Parliament’s committees," said Matt Hatfield, Executive Director of OpenMedia. "They are using that power not to build something, but to gag debate on the most reckless surveillance powers Canada has seen in a generation. When Signal, Apple, the Citizen Lab, VPN companies and dozens of civil society and academic experts are all telling you to slow down, shutting off the microphone is not governing — it's hiding from the consequences of your own faulty legislation."

"Canadians were told the government was open to hearing amendments to get Bill C-22 right,” continued Hatfield. Instead, the government is forcing through a secret-order regime it cannot defend on the merits, on an artificial deadline of its own making. Part 2 should be split off and sent back, not rushed past the public before the summer break."

The government has signalled it wants Bill C-22 passed before the House rises on June 19. OpenMedia is calling on MPs of all parties to refuse to advance Part 2 without full committee study, and is urging people across Canada to contact their MP before the House rises.

More than 10,000 Canadians have written to their MPs to demand they reject Bill C-22 through OpenMedia’s campaign at https://www.openmedia.org/StopC22.