Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to meeting 19 of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics. We will continue our study of the growing problem of identity theft and its economic impact.
We are pleased to welcome José Manuel Fernandez, an assistant professor in the department of computer and software engineering at École Polytechnique de Montréal. Welcome, Professor Fernandez.
We also have Susan Sproule, an assistant professor of finance, operations and information systems at Brock University. Welcome, Ms. Sproule.
By video conference, we welcome Mr. Benoît Dupont, the director of the International Centre for Comparative Criminology, from Montreal. Welcome.
From Whitehorse, Yukon, via video conference—which is quite a commitment to make; it must be very early there—we welcome someone who's no stranger to this committee: Philippa Lawson, a barrister and solicitor and an associate of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic at the University of Ottawa. Thank you very much for being with us here today, Ms. Lawson.
We begin with opening remarks. I think we'll start with those who are present with us in attendance.
Professor Fernandez, we invite you to make opening remarks of five or ten minutes. The floor is yours, sir.