2021-22 Departmental Plan
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Operating context
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruption worldwide. Efforts to contain the virus and cope with its social and economic fallout have prompted abrupt and fundamental change. Technology is playing a central role as the world looks to halt the spread of COVID-19 and adapt regular activities to the need for physical distancing.
Technologies have been very helpful in ensuring we can continue essential activities remotely and safely. The net result is a significant acceleration of the digital transformation. While technologies offer great benefits, they also pose significant risks. Risks to privacy and other rights are heightened by the fact that the pandemic is fueling rapid societal and economic transformation in a context where our laws fail to provide Canadians with effective protection.
At the time of writing, the government was taking concrete steps to reform federal privacy laws. On the public sector side, an online public consultation process was launched by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, along with the President of the Treasury Board of Canada, on the review of the Privacy Act to ask Canadians to share their views on modernizing that legislation. For the private sector, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development introduced Bill C-11, An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act and the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts. This bill, tabled in the House of Commons in November, would bring about a complete overhaul of the private sector law. Our office will analyze the government's legislative proposals and identify possible amendments to better promote responsible innovation while respecting privacy rights.
Internally, the coming year will be one of transition for the OPC, with legislative reform expected to bring significant and yet unknown changes related to our mandate. We will therefore have to reconcile providing services under existing laws with planning for the implementation of our new responsibilities. As a small organization, this conciliation will be challenging and may have an impact on our usual performance.
As the new fiscal year approaches, it has become obvious that the ongoing pandemic will require that the OPC continue to operate in a telework environment for some time. We will also need to question ourselves and prepare for what the working environment will be like in a post-pandemic context.
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