OTTAWA, November 28, 2013 – Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart today issued the following statement in response to requests for her Office’s preliminary comments on Bill C-13, An Act to amend the Criminal Code, the Canada Evidence Act, the Competition Act and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act:
My Office is currently reviewing the Bill thoroughly and, in particular, we are examining legal controls over any new investigative powers. We will make our full comments to Parliament in due course, with the goal of contributing constructively to the eventual study of this Bill in keeping with our role as an Agent of Parliament.
We commend the government for recognizing the gravity of privacy intrusions online, and for proposing action to address the issue of cyberbullying.
We recognize that law enforcement authorities need up-to-date tools to fight online crime at a time of when technologies are changing rapidly, but this must be done in a way that respects Canadians’ fundamental right to privacy.
As for our preliminary observations on Bill C-13, we note that many troubling aspects of the former Bill C-30 have not been repeated, for example, warrantless access to personal information. However, we have questions about the following issues:
- new investigative powers, (including preservation orders) proposed by the Bill and the thresholds for their use;
- the potentially large number of “public officers” who would be able to use these significant new powers; and
- a lack of accountability and reporting mechanisms to shed light on the use of new investigative powers.
My Office was not consulted on the Bill and the first time we saw a copy was Wednesday, November 20th, when the legislation was tabled. Justice Canada officials met with officials from our Office this summer, at which time we discussed specific recommendations made in a report by Federal-Provincial and Territorial officials on cyberbullying.
We look forward to sharing more comprehensive comments on the Bill with Parliament.
