Evidence of meeting #25 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was companies.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
I think it's enough to warrant necessity and proportionality as the standard, so that you assess if you need it and how much you need. Don't get more than you need. Also, have you looked for less privacy-impacting mechanisms?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Cooper.
Ms. Lapointe, I believe you’re going to share your time.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
That’s right, Mr. Chair, but first, I’d like to make a brief point.
Bill C‑16, an act to amend certain acts in relation to criminal and correctional matters (child protection, gender-based violence, delays and other measures) was tabled in the House. The bill also covers deepfakes and non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
Are you aware of this?
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
Yes, I am.
That falls under criminal law. On my part, the Privacy Act continues to play an important role. Not all issues are going to necessarily fall under criminal law, so this protection is important.
As with my investigation into Aylo, I think non-criminal laws can also serve to protect Canadians.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
We have received some extremely alarming testimony to the effect that the end of the world is coming because of superintelligence and artificial intelligence. Comparisons have been made with nuclear war and climate change.
You have met with your fellow G7 commissioners. Are people from other parts of the world equally fearmongering?
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
There are all kinds of discussions at global events that I attend, including the G7. When it comes to privacy, my counterparts and I are focusing on the situation at hand right now and on the future, including emerging artificial intelligence agents.
Indeed, we are hearing these concerns. During the G7 summit, we invited Mr. Yoshua Bengio to share some of these concerns with us. I think it’s important to have these discussions. However, not everyone shares these concerns. In other words, not everyone is pessimistic. The message we are hearing emphasizes what we need to do now to protect ourselves. Strengthening privacy and paying attention to ensuring transparency, human oversight, consent and legitimate purposes can make this kind of development that we want to avoid far less likely.
Conservative
Liberal
Abdelhaq Sari Liberal Bourassa, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Generally, the right to information or cognitive liberty is fundamental, and this is very important to me. It’s one of the risks that I’ve been looking into of late. Earlier, I alluded to the issue of concentration of cognitive capability, as it’s called. Unfortunately, the concentration of cognitive capability is not just on knowledge itself, but also on the development and creation of what is known as creative knowledge. It’s not about knowledge itself, but the creation of knowledge.
One thing that intrigues and worries me in equal measure is the growing concentration of power and the fact that it’s concentrated in the hands of a small number of players. The term “universal” does not necessarily mean that it’s international and that it applies across all countries. The growing concentration of power rests in the hands of a few players.
You are the commissioner and we are parliamentarians. What legal framework do we have right now?
What path should we take to understand the problem and determine how best to protect personal information and the right to information, while ensuring it’s not managed through a single approach?
Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioners of Canada
I think we need to use the tools we have. In my case, this includes collaborating across a number of disciplines, and in my field, that is privacy. Cognitive psychology is also very important to help us understand how decisions are made or not made and how people can be manipulated by algorithms, by messages and by artificial intelligence. It’s about ensuring humans have a role in all this.
I have made some legislative recommendations on the need for more transparency and to ensure privacy and human dignity right from the beginning, right from design.
When it comes to the small number of players, I think this speaks to the need for international collaboration at the governmental, parliamentary and regulatory level, and we are doing that. It would be hard for one country to regulate this issue because it’s transnational. However, we can do so by working with the international community, and that’s what we’re doing.
February 2nd, 2026 / 5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Brassard
Thank you, Mr. Sari.
That concludes today's panel.
Mr. Dufresne, on behalf of the committee, I want to thank you for being before us. I am certainly confident in how you handle your file and your staff. You bring that confidence to a great degree before this committee. I want to thank you for your testimony today.
I have a couple of things I need to quickly discuss with the committee. There are two pressing issues that we need to move on.
The first one is I need concurrence in the House on the Conflict of Interest Act. We are expecting that the draft report on our study will be landing on our desks at some point soon, so I need to move on that. We haven't got concurrence to ensure that this committee can eventually present the report to the House.
The second one I need concurrence on is the Lobbying Act and the upcoming study for that. I'm going to deal with that on Thursday. I'm going to get motions from the committee on both those issues so that we can move concurrence in the House and make sure this committee is the appropriate venue and that the House agrees we are to study both. I just wanted to bring that to your attention.
We have the AI minister coming on Thursday. There was a motion that he come for two hours. He's only coming for one. We have tried significantly to get him here for two, but he has committed to one hour with officials following in that second hour. I just want to make the committee aware of the efforts that the clerk has put in to try to get the minister here for two hours as per the committee request in the motion that was passed unanimously.
I have no other business. That's it. Enjoy the day.
The meeting is adjourned.