Information & Ethics committee  My understanding is that, at least of the reasons put forward publicly, it was the concern about amber-lighting. It was the fact that it was a system that might have been used in order to flag politically sensitive or otherwise problematic access to information requests for speci

Information & Ethics committee  We agree entirely that this piece of legislation is critical. It's a critical tool for citizens to fully participate in the democracy we have. Our governments are accountable to the electorate at election time. This piece of legislation is a critical window into the operations of

Information & Ethics committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to come and comment on this very important piece of legislation. The history of the Canadian Bar Association's involvement with the legislation really goes back and predates the legislation itself. In 1979 the Canadian Bar Association act

Information & Ethics committee  I hope I have fully understood your question. We have put in a recommendation with respect to safeguarding personal information. An important aspect of safeguarding information is to make sure that it's safely and appropriately destroyed when it's no longer needed. That also goe

Information & Ethics committee  No, certainly it wasn't anything that was identified as a priority with respect to reforming the Privacy Act, so it wasn't something any particular attention was focused on.

Information & Ethics committee  Are you proposing a database...if the relatives of missing people can have the particulars of the individuals put in the database?

Information & Ethics committee  Hypothetical examples are almost never as simple as they seem on the surface. As for a quick review of our recommendations and whether I see them having a significant impact on that, no, I don't.

Information & Ethics committee  Not particularly. Pretty well every province has public health legislation that explicitly overrides or requires the reporting of communicable diseases. Just about every piece of privacy legislation in Canada says you can disclose information without consent if you legally have t

Information & Ethics committee  The specific recommendation that deals with the ability to go to the Federal Court is the commissioner's recommendation 2, on page 6. It's not a model that is designed in order to seek damages or to seek compensation. It's a model that is intended to make sure that those within g

Information & Ethics committee  There is the potential. Under the Privacy Act, government institutions come into coverage of the Privacy Act by being listed in the schedule, so if there's a crown corporation that is not listed in the schedule, it is not subject to the Privacy Act. PIPEDA begins to apply if you'

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not sure I know enough of the specifics to answer that.

Information & Ethics committee  That exact circumstance is not explicitly addressed in the Privacy Act. In PIPEDA it is, because it talks about an organization. If they send information out for processing, the organization remains responsible for it, even if they've handed it off to somebody else for processing

Information & Ethics committee  Yes, and that is included in Treasury Board guidelines with respect to outsourcing or third-party processing of personal information.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm not sure I can comment on that specific one. I would expect it has to do with the particular requirements that are not in the Privacy Act but in the Income Tax Act that are specific about the confidentiality of tax return information, which recognizes the high measure of sens

Information & Ethics committee  Because it's a self-reporting system, the legislation allows you to even report criminal sources of income because the interest is seen as being in collecting taxes rather than doing other things.