Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on Bill C-315, entitled the protection of personal information obtained by certain corporations act, sponsored by my colleague from Cariboo-Chilcotin. The bill seeks to enhance the protection of every citizen's right to privacy. Each and every citizen has a right to privacy that protects any confidential information.
Personal information is much more than data, much more than a simple product. It is the essence of who we are and defines our uniqueness. It not only describes the facts but the nuances of our life patterns and our choices. The importance of the right to protect that individuality is a measure of the importance of the individual in society.
The right to privacy is well established in our constitutional and legal history. It is recognized in our common law and has been recognized to be included in the charter of rights and freedoms. In Canada we value privacy to such an extent that we established a Privacy Commissioner of Canada in 1983. There are also provincial and territorial privacy commissioners including in my home province of British Columbia.
The importance of privacy for individuals and Canadian families is shown in that through 1994 and 1995 the federal office of the privacy commissioner processed over 1,300 investigations and dealt with over 10,000 inquiries from the public.
I should like to focus upon the relationship between privacy, family and our current laws. Family is the fundamental building block in our society. It is the family that provides the social cohesion necessary for stability and prosperity in society. Many things are needed to promote and provide stability for families. Privacy is one of the essential elements needed to ensure inviolability of the home.
Increasingly, though, the family home is being subjected to intrusion from a number of sources. The age of contemporary information technology has meant that personal and confidential information has entered into the public realm with little or no safeguards established to protect the use and distribution of the information. With technology, data collection and assimilation become easier and less subject to scrutiny. Information from a multitude of sources can be accumulated, cross-referenced, and misrepresented with increasing facility and speed. While the public becomes increasingly conscious of uncontrolled information flow, they worry that the knowledge may lead to manipulation and intervention into their lives.
There is increasing public unease over the issues surrounding privacy. Almost 90 per cent of Canadians recently replied that they are concerned about their privacy. There is a mounting public pressure to initiate greater control to prevent abuse.
Of course the single largest collector of information on people is the government itself. We have legislation in place to attempt to control that information through the Privacy Act. A quick look at the statistics from the privacy commissioner is meaningful. According to the 1994-95 privacy commissioner's annual report, the number of complaints increased over 38 per cent from the previous year. The number of inquiries has risen from just over 1,000 in 1985 to nearly 10,000 in 1995.
The use of the multiple information database can construct a complete information profile on an individual or that individual's family. It can contain everything from their name to their age to their political affiliation, military service, and even information about related family members. As my colleague mentioned, it can contain the stores you shop at, the kinds of food you eat, and perhaps even your medical history.
The privacy commissioner has estimated that the average Canadian's name is processed through a computer five to ten times on a daily basis. I believe it is crucial for us to take the measures that are necessary to safeguard the privacy of individuals and their families. I believe Bill C-315 will do much to assist that.
Under the federal Privacy Act only government departments, ministries of state, and certain federal institutions are covered. This bill would expand those privacy laws by increasing protection to include federally regulated institutions. This bill would require that those companies that fall under the jurisdiction of the federal Canada Labour Code notify an individual whose personal information will be sold as part of a list to another corporation or client. It would also require that the individual concerned give their permission if they want their name on the list. This notice would outline the source of the personal information, a description of the information held, and a statement that the individual can have their name removed from the list at no cost to them. If an individual requests that his or her name be removed from the list, then the company concerned will be required to comply with that request
within ten days and send a confirmation of that removal to the individual concerned.
This bill expands protection by amending section 2 of the Canada Labour Code to include banks, radio broadcasting companies, air transportation companies, any shipping lines that operate between provinces or between Canada and another country, any company involved in the railway, canal, telegraph, or other industries linking provinces, and any work identified under the Canada Labour Code or deemed for the general advantage of Canada. All these fall under federal jurisdiction and are federally regulated.
The dilemma of privacy issues has been all too common in our news lately. The news stories illustrate the tension that exists between cost efficiencies and the protection of the integrity of information for the protection of the individual.
For example, in my province of B.C. the provincial jurisdiction of privacy limits was recently tested with the introduction of a database on prescription drug usage. This program was introduced in the name of cost efficiency in the ever-diminishing health care system funding and for the health benefit of preventing incompatible or dangerous prescription overlap. However, there was a huge public outcry that the privacy of citizens would be threatened by the potential misuse of this database. The government did set about to dispel those fears and in fact has come up with some instructive examples of safeguards for a shared database.
I want to draw to the attention of the House a statement by the B.C. privacy commissioner, Dave Flaherty, who said that too many people have too much access to too much information on the computer system. That pretty well sums up much of the problem of all the world as we proceed with this privacy debate.
The banks are probably one of the largest non-governmental processors of private information and are also one of the strongest resisters to privacy legislation. They maintain that their voluntary code should be sufficient. There have been noteworthy attempts in all sectors to voluntarily protect the privacy of information. In addition to initiatives by the banks, in 1993 the Canadian Direct Mail Association adopted a compulsory code of conduct for its members.
I commend those in the private sector for voluntary measures they have taken. However, it is interesting to note that one of the largest public outcries to the privacy commission was as a result of a recent Visa gold card application of the Royal Bank. Typically, banks require a social insurance number specifically and solely for the issuance of interest statements under the Income Tax Act. Unfortunately, the Royal Bank's recent request for consent was far broader. It reads: "If I have ever given you my social insurance number you may treat it as information and use it as an aid to identify me with credit bureaus and other parties. Even if I am no longer your client or this agreement terminates, you may keep information in your records and use it for the purposes noted above."
It is such liberties that make the unbiased and arm's length controls of information necessary. With banking institutions offering services in diverse fields of deposit taking, trust processing, securities and insurance subsidiaries, it is necessary that the interests of the consumers and the marketplace be protected by comprehensive guidelines.
Potential for abuses must be recognized both in what services are allowed and in the regulation of the privacy of the information that is collected. With legislative rules and penalties there will come a predictable and enforceable protection for citizens.
Like all government initiatives, privacy regulation involves cost. Quebec introduced privacy legislation in the private sector two years ago. The Quebec experience would seem to indicate that their new private sector privacy commissioner has generated minimal resistance, very mild activity, with only 300 complaints, and minimal cost. This would seem to indicate that there can be an ongoing affordable privacy control within the private sector.
Ideally, the federal system should be designed to be self-funding if possible. The one question I would have of my colleague's proposal is the possibility of cost recovery for the program. The penalties imposed on large institutions seem small and may not serve either as a deterrent or be cost-effective.
The challenge of protection of the right to privacy is great. The growth of that challenge will be exponential as new technologies and falling international, provincial, and private borders become more and more a reality, not only in the marketplace but in our homes. Government and voluntary attention must be given to this crucial concern.
Today I urge my colleagues from all parties to support my colleague on Bill C-315.