New privacy legislation repeats past mistakes

Bill C-27 leaves the privacy of people in Canada at risk

JUNE 16, 2022 — Today Innovation, Science, and Economic Development (ISED) Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022, a three-tiered piece of legislation aimed at private sector privacy reform. The proposed bill closely resembles 2020’s privacy reform Bill C-11, with small adjustments and new guidelines for Artificial Intelligence.

“Frankly, Bill C-27 is a tremendous disappointment,” said OpenMedia Campaigns Director Matt Hatfield. “The government has had nearly two years to learn from the mistakes of their 2020 bill — yet today’s privacy bill repeats most of the same mistakes, with only minor improvements at the edges. After waiting years for our privacy rights to catch up to those citizens enjoy in other countries, Canadians deserve better than this.”

“Bill C-27 includes neither limits on the collection and sale of our data through the data broker economy, nor recognition that our right to privacy is a fundamental human right,” continued Hatfield. “As recent revelations about the extraordinarily invasive tracking of our daily movements by Tim Hortons’ phone app have shown, Canadians are losing more control of sensitive information about our lives every day. We need comprehensive protections that put an end to these mass privacy violations, not legislation rife with loopholes and exceptions that will allow these invasive practices to continue. Minister Champagne and MPs in opposition parties will need to work together to heavily amend this bill for it to meaningfully defend our privacy.”

Since November 2021, more than 29,500 signatures have been collected on OpenMedia petitions calling for new privacy laws in Canada, and more than 17,800 messages have been sent to Ministers calling for new privacy protections. A new campaign is calling for immediate action by both governments and companies to guarantee their users and citizens freedom from the mass collection and sale of our personal data.