Information & Ethics committee  Absolutely, which is why my first point is that we need transparency here. We need to know what's going on. We have seen examples of where states have gone too far. You don't need to go too far back in history to see pretty extreme examples. I don't think we should be complacent about governments even when they appear to be acting appropriately now.

Information & Ethics committee  No, our research actually has been limited to Canada, to trying to understand from the Canadian perspective what the information-sharing mechanisms and avenues currently in place are. I can give you an example. We've had people complain to us and to the Privacy Commissioner about Canadian e-mail providers outsourcing to American e-mail providers.

Information & Ethics committee  It is a great example of why privacy impact assessments are so important. I would love to see the privacy impact assessment that was done on that particular government initiative. It also points out the need for really strong private sector data protection legislation so that those real estate agents have the guidance they need as well as the requirements to ensure that the information is protected.

Information & Ethics committee  Absolutely. We are extremely concerned about the recent actions by this government to block access to the CAIRS database. That is, in our view, a critical component of the current--now we're onto a different topic--access to information.

Information & Ethics committee  I would like to say that this is of great concern.

Information & Ethics committee  That's right. The Privacy Act issue really comes down, in my view, to a practical concern. When a private entity receives an order from the FBI, they have to figure out whether they need to comply or not and what are the consequences of not complying with that order. The idea is to have greater consequences based on Canadian law for those entities to comply--greater consequences for complying with the FBI order than for not complying with the FBI order.

Information & Ethics committee  My understanding is that that was, at least in part, what the B.C. government legislated; that is, the data has to remain in Canada and all the processing has to be done in Canada. I think Statistics Canada learned a lesson the hard way with the Lockheed Martin outsourcing. To my recollection, the result is that they allowed the foreign company to engage in consulting with respect to the software but not to actually handle the census information.

Information & Ethics committee  Please forgive me, but I will answer in English.

Information & Ethics committee  I was worried about getting that question, because it's very difficult to prioritize here. Enforcement, I think, is a priority area. As I say, I find it astonishing that we have no mechanism to enforce our rights as citizens under this act, other than the access to information rights.

Information & Ethics committee  Okay. Right now the Privacy Act sets out a number of rights and obligations of government and rights of individuals, but it only allows the Privacy Commissioner and the individuals to go to court to enforce their rights in respect of the access to information rights. The requirement is that government only collect information if it relates directly to an operating program and only disclose for consistent purposes; there's no way of enforcing that right, so when the government violates the act, there's no way of holding it accountable, other than reporting publicly on it.

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, I have her report with me. I think there's someone here from the Privacy Commissioner's office who may have extra copies. As I say, she is recommending as her number two recommendation that section 41 of the Privacy Act be amended to allow the commissioner and Canadians to go to court in order to enforce their rights under the Privacy Act and to give the Federal Court the power to award damages against institutions that fail to comply with the legislation.

Information & Ethics committee  Absolutely. The theory in the private sector, at least where there's competition, is that this would create a market for Canadian companies to restrict their data sharing to sharing within Canada, and to advertise that and attract customers that way. Of course, that argument does not apply in the public sector, which is why we need stricter regulation in this area, and possibly blocking--statutes that block the Canadian government institutions from transferring data to foreign entities, at least when it's not adequately protected.

Information & Ethics committee  On the transborder data flows, I believe we agree with everything she has proposed, and I'll just take a quick look again. We support her recommendations. In particular, I think it was the tenth recommendation of hers that addressed this, strengthening provisions governing disclosure.

Information & Ethics committee  As I've said, I think the first step is transparency, getting them out in the open, and that would start by possibly a recommendation that they at least be authorized by legislation, and then listed, perhaps, in a regulation to the act. We do that for investigative bodies. It allows a certain level of transparency.

Information & Ethics committee  No, I am not.