How Can We Protect Canadians’ Privacy in Our Digital World?

Twenty-one civil liberties organizations, privacy groups and individual experts expressed their deep alarm that, late last night, the federal government cut off debate at the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on the very controversial Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act. Bill C-22 raises very significant privacy and security concerns, including that it will:

Probably not, for reasons that point to the limits of what Canada can do here. Recently, governments in Manitoba and Ontario have signaled their support for a ban on social media for children under 16 years of age, and last month, the federal Liberals passed a resolution to this effect at a party convention. Manitoba’s premier Wab Kinew and the national Liberal Party are also keen to ban youth access to “all AI chatbots and other potentially harmful forms of AI interaction.”