Evidence of meeting #58 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 office.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
We still have this backlog of unresolved cases on our books.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
It's a problem not only of your budget but also of unfairly preventing other complainants from having their cases addressed.
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Yes.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
Pat Kelly Conservative Calgary Rocky Ridge, AB
You'll have to forgive me, I didn't review our testimony from your earlier appearances. You have the recommendations of this committee in addition to your own recommendations to give you these powers. Is that correct?
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Yes.
May 4th, 2017 / 4:15 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Thanks very much, Commissioner.
First, with respect to the backlog, do you see that as being resolved with a one-time influx of resources to get this out of the way so that the monies you have on an annual basis will be consistent? Or with the resources you have, is that backlog, even if you have a one-time influx, going to creep up again?
4:15 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
We're going to devote some resources to reducing the backlog under the current circumstances, under the current law. We will reduce the problem. I'm not sure if we will eliminate the problem. Long-term, the solution is to have the kind of discretion I've been advocating. If we have more discretion to choose cases—
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
You mean discretion in order making powers but not necessarily more funding?
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Not necessarily.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
Whether it's the use of Facebook, Instagram, or other social media—you have a report on the Internet of things—privacy seems to loom larger and larger in Canadians' lives, yet your funding has not increased and has actually gone down over the last five years.
On the issue of funding, don't you think it would make sense to empower the office a little bit more, what with the issue of privacy increasing in importance, or at least affecting us so much more these days?
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
It would make sense, yes. But before I actually say that we want more money, I'd like to relate these monetary requests to specific activities so that you can determine whether this is a good investment for money. This is why, in terms of PIPEDA, I would prefer to wait until the fall for the recommendations I will make substantively. Then you can see whether it would make sense for Parliament to provide additional investment.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
For now, it's the status quo, and you'll come back in September with new initiatives and proposals.
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Yes.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
With regard to the status quo, if we look at the percentage of complaints responded to within established service standards, in 2014-15 it was 96%, which is great, but that went down to 83% in 2015-16. You have a goal of 90% this year. What explains that 13% dip, and how do we get it back up?
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Here we are talking, in part, about formal complaints, and like I said, among those who did not receive an answer to their complaints are those who are frequent complainants.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
That explains it in part. In part, as well, we have a new informatics system to answer calls from individuals who are not making a formal complaint but who want to hear from us. We've done that with existing resources. It's a service that we think is necessary, but we were never funded for it. That also explains why there may be some delays.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
To get back to the question about increasing budgets or not increasing budgets, do you look at comparable organizations, such as the privacy commissioners' offices in the U.K. and like-minded countries, and look at, on a per capita basis, what they're being funded? Are we adequately funding our Privacy Commissioner's office as compared to our allies?
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
I don't recall whether we've done an exact comparison recently.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
It may be useful when you come in September to....
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Yes, I think it's comparable. In the U.K. and France in particular, there have been recent investments in privacy issues. We will come back with that analysis.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON
With respect to future activities, do you foresee further advocacy or work on Bill C-51 as the government undertakes its review? Perhaps you could speak to other initiatives that you see taking up your time—I know I spoke at the outset about StingRay—and to areas that this committee could work together with you on as you pursue these initiatives going forward.
4:20 p.m.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
The Minister of Public Safety has announced that there will be a bill—before the summer, if I'm not mistaken—to amend Bill C-51. We will obviously have things to say about that. In our annual report, we will report on how Bill C-51, SCISA in particular, has been used. We have a number of investigations, such as the use of StingRay technology. The border will be an important theme. I've mentioned the executive order of President Trump, but also in Canada there is the extent of CBSA's practices in terms of border searches, the searches of technological equipment such as cellphones, etc. Issues related to the border will also be an important theme of activity.
