#DemandPrivacy: More Privacy Rights, Not Less!

People in Canada deserve strong new privacy laws – but a pending bill will actually weaken some of our existing privacy protections.

Your MP will soon be voting on Bill C-27, privacy reform legislation that will allow companies to do EVEN MORE with our sensitive data without our knowledge and consent.

So let’s act together right now by telling our MPs that we #DemandPrivacy!

TO: Your Member of Parliament

CC: François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada

Use the box below to start crafting an email to your member of Parliament! Your MP's name will replace the placeholder {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName} text based on the postal code you enter in the form below.

{contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName},

As a resident of your riding, I’m writing to express my concerns over Bill C-27, The Digital Charter Implementation Act. Without critical amendments, this bill will do more harm than good for my rights.

As compared to our existing commercial sector privacy laws, Bill C-27’s Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA) introduces a host of new exceptions to consent that will drastically reduce my ability to exercise control over my own information. In an era where trust in digital systems is essential to accessing services – like those related to my health, education, and finances – it’s important that Canadian privacy laws empower people like me to understand and to be able to make my own choices about my data – and not permit it to be harvested like a commodity.

Bill C-27’s CPPA misses the mark by failing to effectively recognize privacy as a fundamental human right. Instead, the Act explicitly prioritizes the commercial benefits for companies that collect, use, and sell my sensitive data. The recognition of privacy as a fundamental human right that outweighs commercial interests is an essential feature of effective privacy legislation that puts people before profits.

Lastly, Bill C-27’s reforms are important enough that they must stand or fall on their own terms. The inclusion of the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) within the Bill raises a wide range of unique challenges and questions, which are distinct from the privacy and consent parts of Bill C-27. For this reason, please remove AIDA from the bill so it can receive its own, separate consideration and study.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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Have you ever wondered what a privacy bill would look like if it were written by industry and business groups who profit from the exploitation of our personal data? We’re getting an idea from some of the incredibly destructive provisions in Bill C-27.

Over the course of the last year, Minister Champagne and his team have spoken hundreds of times with companies and business groups to hear what they want from Canada’s new privacy laws – and now they’re getting it in Bill C-27.¹ While our data has been abused by companies like Tim Hortons,² Clearview AI,³ and countless data brokers,⁴ the Minister and his team have been getting cozy with an unholy alliance – composed of Bell, Rogers, Telus, and Royal Bank of Canada, Sunlife and Manulife Financial, and predatory lending and lease-to-own company called goeasy – with designs to create an even more permissive environment for abusing our personal data.⁵ The result? New provisions in privacy reform Bill C-27 that actually make it EASIER for companies to exploit our data!

Minister Champagne hasn’t done any consultation to include the public’s feedback in his new privacy bill – and it shows. This bill will introduce a whole host of new ways that companies can use our sensitive data without our knowledge, permission, or consent.⁶ While some positive provisions are included, without key fixes the new bill will be a step backwards for the privacy of people in Canada.⁷

But that isn’t the end of the story. We have an opportunity to introduce amendments to this privacy bill that make it work for people. People in Canada deserve privacy reform created for the decade to come (not the one that just went). Reform that’s built upon a solid foundation of empowerment, giving us more choices about how our sensitive data can be used – not less.

If we act together to send our MPs a message, we can play a part in drafting the future of privacy in Canada. Send your message now!

Sources

12-month Lobbying Activity - Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying Canada
Double-double tracking: How Tim Hortons knows where you sleep, work, and vacation – The Financial Post
Clearview AI’s Facial Recognition App Called Illegal in Canada – The New York Times
Mapping the Data Broker Economy: Taking Back Our Data - OpenMedia
Alliance for Privacy and Innovation in Canada - Registry of Lobbyists
Bill C-27: Privacy, only worse - Public Interest Advocacy Centre
The Absolute Bare Minimum: Privacy and the New Bill C-27 - OpenMedia

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Press: Rosa Addario | Phone: +1 (888) 441-2640 ext. 0 | [email protected]