Information & Ethics committee  My colleague is just checking the list to see if we see any. I'd be surprised if there were or, if there were, if there was more than one, because, as you say, people don't know when their information is there. And people in national security have pointed out to me that if you suspect you're in there, the last thing you want to do is draw public attention to yourself by making a complaint.

Information & Ethics committee  It would be hard for me to answer that accurately right now, so again I'll get back to you on that, because I may be confusing CSIS and CSE. We did some preliminary checking—perhaps it was with CSIS, as I remember—and the preliminary analysis suggested that everything was correct in terms of personal information handling issues.

Information & Ethics committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Could I begin by simply informing the committee that the group of people accompanying me are on one hand some staff members who in the years they have worked at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner have never attended a hearing of the Privacy Commissioner.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you. On Tuesday, Assistant Commissioner Bernier and I had the privilege of presenting to Parliament our latest annual report on the Privacy Act. I believe it is an important document for all Canadians because it highlights some vital developments and future trends in public sector privacy.

Justice committee  Sir, as I understand it, this bill deals specifically with identity theft. Therefore, if someone were to use a death certificate and pass themselves off as a Canadian who is deceased in order to obtain these benefits, then the provisions of this bill could apply. However, I believe the Criminal Code contains other provisions that allow for the prosecution of individuals who have stolen someone's name or invented a fictitious person in order to obtain benefits.

Justice committee  I am not an expert in criminal law, but subsection 403(1) as amended by the bill notes the following: 403.(1) Everyone commits an offence who fraudulently personates another person, living or dead, As I see it, the focus of this bill is NEXUS and identity theft. I believe you are referring to instances of fraud and in my opinion, these are already dealt with in the Criminal Code.

Justice committee  Thank you for the question. As other witnesses have noted, the Government of Canada and Canadian law enforcement agencies are cooperating to ensure that information is shared, not only within Canada but abroad as well, as quickly as possible. Judging from our experience, speed is a factor in this type of crime which increasingly depends on the fact that jurisdictions are divided.

Justice committee  Law enforcement agencies may have always thought, based on their experiences, that criminals were one step ahead of them. Clearly the legislative process is out of step with the times, given the speed at which crimes can be committed today. The lack of cooperation and contemporary legislation creates ideal conditions for criminal activities.

Justice committee  Thank you for your questions, honourable member, I think they go to the heart of why I'm supporting this bill. We do see provisions, unusually--this is a growing trend in Canadian law--for compensation to the victim and not just to the crown. The issue of damages in the work we do, which is not criminal work, as the RCMP have explained, does vary widely and depends on the harm.

Justice committee  Very briefly, I don't have problems with clause 7. I'm not a criminal lawyer, but this opinion is based on a few things. One is that in the years in which I've been Privacy Commissioner I have been continually amazed by the sophistication of the privacy breaches that we see. There are links to organized crime, to international organizations, and the difficulty for all our societies to come to grips with them.

Justice committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I don't think I'll take 10 minutes. I have appeared on this question several times in the past few years. I've been fairly outspoken about the problem. I'm very pleased to see that the government is taking action on it today. Polling conducted by my office this year has revealed that one in six Canadians has experienced some form of identity theft.

Information & Ethics committee  Excuse me, Mr. Chair, are we dismissed?

Information & Ethics committee  No, it's not helpful.

Information & Ethics committee  No, we're all competing for the same employees. It's not helpful at all.