Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Privacy is a fundamental right. All the work we've done on this committee has shown us just how important it is to take an interest in these subjects.
Citizens are concerned about what's happening with their data. When we learn that agencies or departments have allegedly used software to monitor data, we can ask them if they have carried out a prior privacy assessment, as required by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. If they haven't, the committee certainly has a duty to go further, to investigate in order to understand what happened. That's the first objective.
The second objective is obviously to correct what needs to be corrected. Certainly, we need to inform people of the risks involved in using certain software. However, we also need to inform them of the risks associated with activities they may be unaware of, because it's been done without their knowledge.
I don't believe the Government of Canada should be monitoring anyone without their knowledge. The Privacy Commissioner of Canada says the same thing in his rulings and reports. It is for this reason that I thought it appropriate to request this emergency meeting, in order to review the points mentioned above.
Thank you.