Operating context - 2022-23 Departmental Plan

Technologies have been very helpful in ensuring that we can continue performing essential and regular activities remotely and safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Privacy risks and issues are multiplying in number and complexity as a result of a greatly accelerated digital revolution – a revolution made only more apparent with the development of technologies in the pandemic environment. 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.

It has been clear for many years that Canada’s two federal privacy laws are not suited to the task of protecting privacy rights in a digital world. We need to better protect Canadians at a time when their confidence in the digital economy is needed to fuel a post-pandemic economic recovery.

After years of persistent calls for action from our office, as well as from stakeholders in industry and civil society, the federal government introduced Bill C-11, which sought to overhaul the federal private sector law, as well as comprehensive proposals for modernizing Canada’s nearly 40-year-old public sector law. Because Bill C-11 died on the Order Paper when the federal election was called in August 2021, we hope that in the coming year we will see the introduction of revised legislation for the private sector as well as legislative proposals to update the public-sector legislation.

In the coming year, the Office will face a number of internal operational pressures that may have an impact on its usual performance.

Federal privacy law reform will bring significant and yet unknown changes related to our mandate. We will therefore have to reconcile providing services under existing laws, while continuing to plan for the implementation of new responsibilities. As a small organization with limited resources, this reconciliation will be challenging.

The coming into force of the Privacy Act Extension Order ^{Footnote 1} in July 2022 (which gives foreign nationals abroad the same right as Canadians to request access to personal information about themselves that is under the control of federal government institutions) is expected to place considerable strain on the Office’s resources responsible for compliance functions.

Temporary funding that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) received in Budget 2019 to significantly reduce the backlog of complaints will come to an end in 2022-2023. Since allocation of the funding, we have made great strides in reducing 91% of the backlog of cases. This temporary funding has increased our capacity to deal with complaints, but it was not a permanent solution to help us deal appropriately with the full volume and complexity of compliance issues emerging on a daily basis.

Some important litigation files currently underway will also place additional pressure on resources and add to the complexity of our work. This includes litigation before the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal involving Facebook and Google which was referred to in our most recent annual report.^{Footnote 2}

Our Office is also committed to achieving true equality of both Official Languages, Employment Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and Accessibility objectives. These important initiatives make it necessary for the OPC to implement activities and dedicate resources to achieve those objectives in the coming year.

Major changes to the leadership of the organization are expected when Commissioner Therrien’s mandate expires in June 2022 and as a change is planned at the Deputy Commissioner level. These changes will require a period of transition and adaptation for employees, as well as additional work to bring these new leaders on board and brief them effectively.

Lastly, preparations for and the setting up of a post-pandemic work environment that involves taking a hybrid approach to operations, whereby employees work on site as well as remotely, will result in gradual changes to the way we work in the Office.