Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This issue was raised during the first statutory review of PIPEDA that was carried out in 2006-07. The recommendation of the committee at the time was that the government consult with stakeholders and the Privacy Commissioner to examine the issue of the use of personal information when it's contained in a witness statement for the purpose of processing an insurance claim.
There was a concern raised at the time and discussed during the consultations. If I witness an accident, say that I saw an individual recklessly driving through an intersection, and provide that witness statement to the police, there was concern in the insurance industry that the individual who drove recklessly through the intersection could refuse and not provide consent for the use of his or her personal information—the fact that they were at that place at that time—for the purpose of processing the insurance claim.
Based on the consultation, there was a pretty wide agreement among the stakeholders, including privacy advocates at the time, that you didn't want to create a situation whereby individuals can protect themselves from responsibility in an accident, essentially, by invoking their personal privacy and saying that the witness statement can't be used because it contains their personal information. The purpose of the amendment in Bill S-4 is to provide a very limited exception so that insurance companies can get access to witness statements that contain personal information, only for the purpose of processing the insurance claim.