Information & Ethics committee  Well, we work very closely as agents of Parliament. It's not a perfect, complete separation. We're proposed by the executive branch, but we're approved by the Houses, so there is certainly independence. However, we work as part of the public service, and we apply a number of the procedures.

Information & Ethics committee  We do a lot of outreach with all sectors and civil society. I've had a very interesting discussion with children, youth parliamentarians. I am very interested in their challenges, how they see privacy issues and how they interact with their schools. I want to see privacy as part of a mandatory curriculum.

Information & Ethics committee  This is an example of where I've had strong collaboration with my provincial and territorial counterparts as the Privacy Commissioner. In October—not this October, but the year before—we actually issued a joint statement on digital ID from the privacy perspective. We flagged this as something that can make it easier for Canadians to interact with their government and so on, but it has to be done, if it is to be done, in a privacy-protective manner.

Information & Ethics committee  All aspects of obtaining digital identification or biometric information about anyone, whether from the public sector or the private sector, are an area people have to be mindful of. We currently have draft guidance on the use of biometric information, one for the private sector and one for the public sector.

Information & Ethics committee  The current complaint was in response to Mr. Barrett's—

Information & Ethics committee  My team can correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that's the case.

Information & Ethics committee  I don't have that information, and I'm not sure that's necessarily information I would be making public if it was an anonymous situation. I'm not sure how to respond to that.

Information & Ethics committee  Again, the Privacy Act places significant confidentiality obligations on me, on that one.

Information & Ethics committee  You did. I do not currently have the ability to issue binding orders under the Privacy Act.

Information & Ethics committee  It's the same. There are no monetary penalties.

Information & Ethics committee  That's correct, and it's a concern on both the private sector side and the public sector side.

Information & Ethics committee  Bill C-27 was introduced by the government. It would provide me with the ability to issue orders, and it would provide for the ability for fines to be issued. That's on the private sector side. In terms of the public sector, there is no bill to modernize it. Currently, the Department of Justice has done a consultation paper in which that was a recommendation in terms of a greater compliance mechanism, and I would certainly encourage that moving forward.

Information & Ethics committee  The recommendation was made in 2021. Since then, they have been consulting to get, in particular, more of an indigenous perspective on this. My office, under my predecessor, supported this, of course, as do I.

Information & Ethics committee  If I were to make any comments on that, it would be at the conclusion of an investigation if we had seen concerns, so it's not something that I would comment on at this stage.

Information & Ethics committee  What are you referring to?