Information & Ethics committee  I'll begin. I'll ask the assistant commissioner who's in charge of that in particular to answer that. I think this paragraph refers to the fact that we think that Privacy Act reform involves public consultation, sector-wide consultation, because this is the basic personal info management framework of all the information Canadians give to the federal government.

Information & Ethics committee  No. As mentioned, PIPEDA spells out the requirement to educate the public about the overall information management policy. And that's what we do in terms of personal information, access to a person's file, etc. However, I don't think this legislation can be interpreted as requiring a warning of some kind, particularly on new technology products, about the possibly privacy implications associated with the use of the product.

Information & Ethics committee  I do. We are giving the matter some thought. For example, software should come with a warning label cautioning that product use could have privacy implications.

Information & Ethics committee  You're very welcome.

Information & Ethics committee  We are part of the same administrative unit for reporting purposes and formally for administrative purposes. There was a proposal that was examined by the Honourable Mr. Gérard La Forest, who's a retired Supreme Court judge and one of the primary legal theoreticians of privacy rights in his judgments.

Information & Ethics committee  No, it's not. As I explained to the all-party parliamentary committee, we think it'll take us two years to absorb the backlog, so, unfortunately, I have to report to you today that two months into the new fiscal year the backlogs are still there. We're not pleased with the time it takes to treat Canadians' privacy complaints.

Information & Ethics committee  I'd say, honourable member, that they are perhaps technically motivated. The Privacy Act was brought down as a companion piece of legislation to the Access to Information Act. The other honourable member was talking about the provinces. Most provinces regulate these together. The federal government has chosen to regulate privacy and access in two acts, with two commissioners.

Information & Ethics committee  It was not insurmountable. I'm sorry if I misspoke. I am sure there is a solution. It may be a little more difficult to draft, but I think it can be done.

Information & Ethics committee  You're right. I believe the public needs to be informed of the risks in terms of protection of personal information, not only when it comes to cell phone use. In the past, people were afraid that someone could be eavesdropping on their conversations. With the advent of technology, the problem has grown far more serious.

Information & Ethics committee  Mr. Chairman, if I may, I'd like to ask Deputy Commissioner Raymond D'Aoust who is responsible for this particular area to answer Mr. Laforest's question.

Information & Ethics committee  There's a very complex picture. Maybe I'll start the answer and the assistant commissioner, Heather Black, could complete it, as she was a long-time general counsel and knows.... This is an area of joint jurisdiction, and only three provinces have chosen to go ahead in this area with legislation of their own that meets the test set up in PIPEDA of being substantially similar.

Information & Ethics committee  The answer is yes.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you, honourable member. I'd direct you to our latest annual report on RFIDs. Of the companies we surveyed, two indicated already that they've linked goods to personal information and one was using RFIDs to track employees. So it's moving down. On the accountability bill, we appeared in Parliament last week to point out, notably, that we're concerned that, as it is now presented, this bill will lower the level of personal information protection in three organizations: Atomic Energy of Canada, the CBC, and VIA Rail.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, thank you. I'll try to be economical. One of the requests of this committee as it was constituted in the previous Parliament was that we table a paper on Privacy Act reform. This was the first law. The law is now 25 years old, and I've consistently been criticizing it for its inadequate protection of Canadians' personal information.

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and honourable members, for inviting me here. On the screen you will see an overview of the presentation that I hope to run in the next 15 minutes, which I hope will give you an initial introduction to our role and mandate, the laws we administer, and some of the key issues.