Evidence of meeting #39 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agencies.
A recording is available from Parliament.
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Liberal
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Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
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Member, Legal Advocacy Committee, Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association
I'm sorry.
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Conservative
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Member, Legal Advocacy Committee, Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association
That's my main concern there.
In today's world, it's going to be tough, especially with a lot of data, but I think we need to be very nuanced in how we strike that balance while respecting the law.
The key is going to be those thresholds. If we start to get the inputs right, then likely the information in the databases will be necessary to be held. If the net is so wide that we're pulling in anti-Saudi protestors, or whatever they are, or just anyone who is flying, and then later they show up on the radar possibly, and then all of that is pulled in to create a profile of them with metadata and travel patterns, that to me is worrying, because fundamentally in a democracy we don't do that. When Commissioner Paulson was talking about keeping email content on servers, one of the U of T researchers said, “Why don't we just have a camera in all of our homes because it could be useful someday?” I think that really hit the nail on the head.
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Conservative
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Liberal
Joël Lightbound Liberal Louis-Hébert, QC
If I may, based on the testimony we've heard today, would it be possible for the clerk to ask the 17 agencies—maybe not the ones who are clearly dealing with national security—to provide this committee with a written—
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Blaine Calkins
I have no problem with that. Does anybody here at the committee have a problem with that?
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Liberal
Joël Lightbound Liberal Louis-Hébert, QC
—explanation of how the information they receive pertains to national security and what their mandate has to do with national security.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Blaine Calkins
I want to thank the witnesses.
I'll leave you with one note: I don't know what I don't know. I put trust in the people who do these things on my behalf to keep me safe. My only hope is that information or analytics that were either missed or could have been harvested that could have prevented the deaths of Nathan Cirillo and Patrice Vincent would have been used. We can't bring them back from the dead, but we can always make reparations with Mr. Arar for some of the misdeeds that have happened to him. I think we need to be very cognizant of the consequences of what we're doing.
I thank the witnesses very much for their testimony. It was absolutely fantastic today. Thank you very much.
The meeting is adjourned
