Video July 14, 2026

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

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July 14 2026 - New corporate technologies for mass surveillance and gathering personal data endanger personal privacy as never before. AI can analyze vast amounts of data, making it easier to identify patterns, infer personal characteristics, and exploit information in ways that were previously impossible or prohibitively expensive. The federal government’s answer is a highly controversial new bill [C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act]. Is it the answer to the problem or will it make matters worse? Does it provide the greater privacy protection Canadians need and deserve?

CFE asked two of Canada’s leading privacy experts to discuss what is needed to protect Canadians privacy, how the new legislation measures up, and what should be done now.

Tamir Israel is Director of the Privacy, Surveillance, and Technology Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Teresa Scassa is the Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law and a 2024 winner of the Piccaso Award celebrating privacy leadership around the world.

CFE joins other civil liberties groups and leading privacy experts in denouncing the Liberal government’s shut down of essential debate on dangerous state surveillance Bill C-22

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:

Would Banning Children from Social Media and AI Be Constitutional?

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.”

CFE joins other civil liberties groups and leading privacy experts in denouncing the Liberal government’s shut down of essential debate on dangerous state surveillance Bill C-22

Would Banning Children from Social Media and AI Be Constitutional?

What is the Future of Voice and Privacy in the Age of AI?