Evidence of meeting #34 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was audit.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
This bill is always a topic of discussion, but what kinds of difficulties or challenges do you think are involved in its current version? Should Canadians and Quebeckers worry about their privacy being jeopardized?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I think we have clearly emphasized for a long time that this bill was unacceptable in terms of protecting Canadians' personal information and privacy. There are no safeguards or appropriate procedures to compensate for the infringement upon Canadians' privacy, to which police services have fairly direct access.
NDP
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Thank you.
I know we are talking about the future, but sometimes you need to look back at the past. A few years ago, you performed an audit of the RCMP's database, and you came to the conclusion that it was mismanaged. It appears on page 41 of your annual report. Consequently, you forced the RCMP to get rid of all excess and unnecessary data. That represented about 95% of the information.
How will you ensure that, going forward, other departments will not do the same and collect unnecessary information on Canadian citizens, particularly in this climate of fiscal restraint?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I will let the assistant commissioner, who is responsible for national security issues, answer that. She will be able to respond in more detail.
Assistant Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
As you pointed out, that audit led to the destruction of all data that did not need to be kept. I would say that speaks quite nicely to the effectiveness of our audits and the receptiveness of federal agencies, to be sure. That being said, it is necessary to keep up that oversight. As I was explaining earlier, we have a risk-based audit plan, where we determine which organizations to audit according to the volume or nature of information they hold and the number of incidents.
That is how we ensure that irrelevant data is not kept unnecessarily.
NDP
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Mr. Chair, I see you are telling me I have only a minute left, so I will keep it short.
Ms. Stoddart, you said that you were going to expand your use of online services, which are more cost-effective, to reach young people and so forth. I am in favour of that. As politicians, we use them in our ridings. But I see a contradiction of sorts. Are you going to use Facebook to warn young people about the dangers of Facebook?
NDP
Alexandre Boulerice NDP Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC
Young children are not supposed to use Facebook. As a parent, I find it incredibly worrisome. In your view, what are the risks associated with Facebook, Twitter or MySpace for our children and young people, aside from cyberpedophiles, which I can well imagine. What risks do our children face when it comes to these new social media networks, and how are you going to warn them about the risks?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Very well.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Okay.
First, we are doing more work with institutions that have relationships with school boards to give teachers tools, and that is happening across Canada. Second, young people have trouble imagining all the possible repercussions, given the complexity of how these sites are designed. It isn't always obvious that when you share something with everyone, you really are sharing it with everyone, not just your friends and such.
So, for us, trying to force social networks to provide clear explanations so that young people using their sites can more easily understand what is involved is a never-ending battle, because these sites change almost daily. It is incredibly hard work.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Thank you for your response.
It is now over to Mr. Dreeshen for seven minutes.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Again, I congratulate you on your position.
To Madam Stoddart and our other witnesses, thank you so very much for coming.
When I was first elected in 2008, I was on the ethics committee, and I've had an opportunity to address you on other occasions. Of course, as a former educator, I think it's part of what you were talking about here, that public education is so important. It's great to see that you've moved that awareness into grades 7 to 12, and it is necessary to make sure you get into the lower grades as well, to make sure they understand just what is taking place. You also have the situation of education being twofold. It is not just for our youth but also for businesses, so that they understand what is taking place.
I note in the report that you talked about a 30% decline from the previous year in inquiries related to the Privacy Act. The number of visits to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner website is up by 31% from 2007-08 to 2.2 million visitors in 2010 and 2011. I'm just wondering if we could tie that into the educational component of the activities you have been doing in your office.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I think, honourable member, that's a very plausible explanation. We don't always know ourselves why there are more complaints or fewer complaints and so on.
Just recently, complaints from the private sector have been going up, as have, I believe, those from the public sector. We're asking ourselves why this is. Hits to the different websites have been going up. I think that's possibly in relation to a lot of the discussion around Bill C-30 recently. Canadians are very concerned about their privacy rights.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
That's very good.
The other things—and you talk about this on page 86 of your report—is on the most common complaint types that are received, and it looks as though access is the main one. We're talking about 46% of the complaints being about access, 36% about time limits, and 18% about actual privacy. I wonder if you could expand on that.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Is this in the public sector act?
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
This is in the Privacy Act on page 86—the percentage breakdown.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
On complaints respecting the government, the key issue has always been, “Can I get access to my personal information?” or “If I have access, I don't believe it's everything.” We know there are very few Canadians in public security files who don't have access to their personal information, for allowable reasons. This is distinct from the private sector, where it's the use of personal information. Sharing with other organizations is the main subject of complaint.
On time limits, it's almost 40%. This is a very specific issue, and I wonder if it is a very useful part of the law in this day and age. It allows a person whose request has not been answered in 30 days to make a complaint. This is overwhelmingly used by people who are incarcerated. We then work with them to resolve the complaint and the substance of the complaint. Correctional Service Canada is a big subject of complaints. But I don't know if that mechanism is as efficient now in 2012 as it was when the act was initially drawn up.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
That looks as though it is a cost driver that you have. Of course, we're trying to look at the dollars associated with the organization.
I'd like to go back to another discussion we had in the past on your staff. There was a concern earlier about your staff turnover. I wonder if you can comment on whether that has stabilized and what you see going forward.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Yes, thank you.
When I became Privacy Commissioner I tried to rebuild the office. I know in this committee we have talked about staff turnover for years; however, I think that turnover has stabilized. We've been able to recruit, and we sometimes have very long recruitment processes because many of our people....
One of the honourable members asked how we deal with this, given that it's becoming more and more complex. We have to hire more and more expert people. But we have very qualified staff. We have a stable workforce, and I believe we'll be able to keep all of them in the years to come.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
The next question I have has to do with the anti-spam bill. It received royal assent at the end of 2010. You stated in your report that the legislation will result in important changes to your office. I wonder if you can elaborate on those changes.
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
We have a new responsibility around the illegal harvesting of e-mail addresses. This has already precipitated, without the law coming into force, intensive discussions with Industry Canada, the CRTC, and the Competition Bureau. They have bigger roles in the overall anti-spam legislation than we do.
Conservative
Earl Dreeshen Conservative Red Deer, AB
Does that seem to be working well? You aren't having any difficulties there and it is working as smoothly as you had anticipated?
Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I think it's progressing along.
Perhaps I will ask the assistant commissioner, who is in charge of operations, to tell you about a program we're organizing in June to prepare for this.
Assistant Privacy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
While waiting for the act to come into force, we have started building our capacity to respond to the investigations we will have to do under the act.
The commissioner just referred to a day of training we are planning on June 20. For many months we have had a working group specifically on the implementation of the anti-spam legislation, so our entire office in its various functions is well coordinated on that. That working group has built an all-day training session to make sure that every part of our office is enabled and has the expertise and tools to be able to respond to complaints if and when they occur under the legislation.