Brenda McPhail

Dr. Brenda McPhail’s current role is to leverage McMaster’s unique approach to public policy for a new audience in an Executive version of an MPP degree, customised for current policy professionals who want to expand their knowledge, or mid-career professionals in other fields wanting to bring their subject expertise to the policy arena. As the former Director of the Privacy, Technology and Surveillance Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association her work has supported litigation at courts up to the Supreme Court of Canada, as well as legislative reform, and public education relating to the ways in which privacy rights are at risk in contemporary society. She has appeared as an expert witness before Parliamentary and Senate committees regarding privacy law, national security, and biometric data, and serves as a member of the Advisory Council for the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. She is a collaborator on several grant-funded research projects including studies on workplace surveillance applications, media governance and AI, facial recognition technology, privacy and consent, and virtual health care data privacy.  Brenda received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto Faculty of Information.