Industry committee  Criminal charges are not something that would be laid by a commissioner, here or elsewhere. That would be done by the police, but there are—

Industry committee  There are provisions whereby we can notify the authorities in that context, and one of my recommendations, in fact, is to amend the period of time for summary charges. Right now it's 12 months, and I'm recommending that that period be longer or that there be an extension possibility, because I don't want individuals to run out of time if the process takes longer.

Industry committee  The recommendation on audits was one that was made for proactivity. It was this notion that with great power comes great responsibility, so if you have authorities in cases where there may be an exception to consent for the use of information, there should be an ability to do what I think my predecessor referred to as “looking under the hood”, so having verifications.

Industry committee  I'd have to look at the specific wording of what's being proposed, but certainly—

Industry committee  What I understand the minister to propose, based on his letter, is to amend the preamble to recognize privacy as a fundamental right, and to amend section 5 of the proposed act to recognize that privacy is a fundamental right in the purpose provision of the act, which is stronger than the preamble—

Industry committee  In terms of children, it's a similar approach, as I understand it, recognizing the importance of protecting the privacy of children in the preamble, but also in the proposed section 12, which is the “Appropriate Purposes” provision.

Industry committee  The issue of the definition of a “minor”—and I know the question was asked in earlier meetings—is something that could be included in an amendment, perhaps with reference to the provisions—

Industry committee  I would support that, to remove uncertainty. If you're not saying anything, the presumption to me would be that you use provincial ages of majority, but I don't see a harm in specifying it here.

Industry committee  Again, this is all part of the requirements in terms of the manner in which consent is provided and what will constitute valid, express consent. We've provided guidance on this. This is part of the guidance my office can provide, but, certainly, children's consent has to be looked at differently.

Industry committee  That's right. I'm happy to provide suggestions on that, if it assists the committee. Right now, the way it is done is that it recognizes minors' information as sensitive, and then it uses sensitivity as a factor in a number of those things, including consent.

Industry committee  The concept in the data removal for children in this instance is that you may have consented to something as a child, as a minor—and there's provision for obtaining parental consent unless you're able to do it as a minor—but as an adult you may come to the conclusion that you no longer consent to this.

Industry committee  The bill provides for the minor, once an adult, to have that removed—

Industry committee  It's a minor as well. Minors' information doesn't fall under the exception that exists if there's a retention policy. There's greater protection to remove minors' information, and that's something the bill would do.

Industry committee  That raises the whole issue of consenting to being tracked, and privacy by default. What are organizations doing, and what are they telling you those default provisions are? In my view, the default provisions should be privacy protective, certainly if you're dealing with minors.

Industry committee  Again, we'll wait and see what's being done, but what is proposed is to recognize in the preamble the importance of protecting children's privacy, so that will be there. As well, the proposal is in section 12—