Ottawa, May 8, 2007 - Identity theft has become such
a pervasive problem for Canadians that the federal government must act now
to develop a broad-based strategy for tackling this type of fraud, says the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
"Government has an important leadership role to play in coordinating
the efforts of all the various players and creating a new joint approach to
combating identity theft," Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says.
Commissioner Stoddart appeared today before the Standing Committee on Access
to Information, Privacy and Ethics, which has launched a study on identity
theft. The committee's work is an important first step towards
much-needed action on this type of fraud.
Identity theft has a clear privacy dimension. People should be able
to control how, when and for what purposes their personal information is used
and disclosed.
At the moment, Canada lacks a clear picture of the prevalence of identity
theft and a detailed breakdown of where fraudsters are getting personal information. There
is no standard definition of identity theft.
"We need better information about identity theft. One reason for
the lack of information is the lack of a centre of responsibility. Everyone
is interested in preventing identity theft, but no one has overall responsible
for doing anything about it," says the Commissioner.
She proposes the federal government create a clearinghouse or task force that
would play a coordinating role on the issue of identity theft, gathering input
from various government departments and agencies, the provinces, law enforcement,
private-sector organizations and privacy advocates. Additionally, Canada should
be working with its international partners to combat identify theft – a
crime that knows no borders.
"We need to define and document the problem and then develop a variety
of measures against identity theft," Commissioner Stoddart says, adding
these should include a variety of punitive sanctions such as fines, as well
as amendments to the Criminal Code.
"Pretexting" – a way in which individuals trick organizations
into revealing personal information about others – is one issue which
needs to be addressed through legislative reforms, says the Commissioner, who
recognizes James Rajotte, MP for Edmonton- Leduc, for bringing the issue before
Parliament with his private member's bill, C- 299.
The Commissioner's submission to the committee is available at www.privcom.gc.ca. Her
web site also includes several documents on preventing identity theft.
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is mandated by Parliament to act as an ombudsman,
advocate and guardian of privacy and the protection of personal information rights
of Canadians.
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For more information, please contact:
Sharon Tessier
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Tel: (613) 995-0103
E-mail: stessier@privcom.gc.ca
