Public Safety committee  Honourable Member, I was commenting in that context on proposed legislation. I'm here to comment again on proposed legislation, and my comments have to do with the necessary destruction under this proposed legislation and some of the principles in the Privacy Act about destruction for a program that would be eliminated—with the information that was gathered from Canadians no longer being relevant to a program that would be abolished.

Public Safety committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you for inviting me here to discuss this legislation. I'm accompanied by our general counsel, Patricia Kosseim, should there be any technical legal questions on my remarks. As Privacy Commissioner of Canada, it's my role, as you know, to comment on the privacy implications of the bill as they relate, in this case, to the retention, accuracy, and disposal of personal information.

Information & Ethics committee  In fact, we have started to do that. Some have been redeployed in Toronto, and there are positions opening in Toronto. We've had exchanges with provincial commissions, where people go to other commissions and stay there for awhile. We consult regularly with provincial commissions to make sure that the way we interpret things here in Ottawa for some provinces is the same as they do it in B.C., let's say.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, it's essential, because if we come out with different positions on the same thing and we have laws that are equivalent.... I think we have to do this.

Information & Ethics committee  I would just like to ask the committee this. The first committee in its previous form--and probably all the members have changed, except for the Honourable. Mr. Coderre, as I remember--that I appeared before--

Information & Ethics committee  I appeared before this committee seven years ago. The committee has always been very supportive of our work through the years, first in rebuilding the office and then in listening to us and giving us suggestions and so on. As an agent of Parliament, I thank you very much for this positive relationship, and I want to stress that I report to you, so do not hesitate to give me instructions if you feel that would improve my work.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you.

Information & Ethics committee  That's a very good question, and one with which I have grappled for years, obviously, because it has just opened now. A physical presence is clearly less and less important, but it still is important. Ideally, if we had the resources, we would be present I would say in every province, because human interaction still counts for a lot.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. The four priority privacy issues are information technology, national security, identity integrity and protection in the online world, and genetic information. It's a priority for us to try to understand all those areas, which is fairly challenging. They're all highly specialized and highly technical areas.

Information & Ethics committee  No, we haven't, but I think national security has itself, if only because of the parliamentary agenda in relationship to the national security challenges of both public safety and law enforcement. These have been very much before Parliament in the last few years. So in developing our positions on a lot of the legislation put forward, as well as on new techniques or administrative initiatives like the passenger protect program--that's the no-fly list and so on--and facial recognition technology in airports, which I believe is coming soon, I think events of their own have forced us to make that a priority.

Information & Ethics committee  We do it in many ways. Perhaps I could talk about our four priority privacy issues, all of which now touch the online world. They're in no particular order. The first one is genetic information. With the proliferation of genetic websites, genetic testing, and medical advances related to our genetic composition, and the ethical issues around them, our genetic information is of course the ultimate personal information.

Information & Ethics committee  It has certainly been a long-standing legal tradition that our privacy is a constitutional right, but it does have limits. For example, if you have reasonable cause to persuade a judge that the forces of security should go into your home, well, your home is private except for that.

Information & Ethics committee  I think that work has to continue to progress. It may look like we spent a lot of time on international issues, which may perhaps seem glamorous and so on, but it wasn't that kind of choice. Because of the way the Internet functions, because of Canada's economic position, with so much on the Internet....

Information & Ethics committee  Well, it's like everywhere else, as you do depend on cooperation. In the specific case of American law, because we are so attached and affected by American law, I have, for example, sent one of our lawyers to the Federal Trade Commission for a summer to learn about their trade commission, which is kind of like my vis-à-vis in the United States.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, that's the good news. I know that the government spent a long time protesting and that it is introducing this bill reluctantly. But it's also because of our economic, strategic and other ties with the United States. I have followed the issue, and I believe that people in the United States, who are subject to other types of scanners than those used in Canada, are also rebelling against these intrusions.