News release
Federal, Provincial and Territorial Information and Privacy Commissioners and Ombudsman Issue Joint Resolution About Privacy and Access to Information Rights During and After a Pandemic
June 2, 2021
In a joint resolution, Canada’s Information and Privacy regulators called on their respective governments to respect Canadians’ quasi-constitutional rights to privacy and access to information. The regulators took note of the serious impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the right of access to information and privacy rights in Canada and called on governments to use the lessons learned during the pandemic to improve these rights.
The global pandemic has brought to the forefront the pressing need for strong access to information and privacy laws. The regulators noted that the pandemic has accelerated trends that were ongoing prior to March 2020, namely concerns among the public about increasing surveillance by public bodies and private corporations and the slowing down of processing access requests. The pandemic has also highlighted the need to modernize the access to information system by leveraging technology and innovation to advance transparency.
The joint resolution adopted 11 access to information and privacy principles and called on Canada’s governments to show leadership by implementing them and making the modernization of legislative and governance regimes around freedom of information and protection of privacy a priority.
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For media enquiries, please contact:
James Ellard
Director, Public Affairs
Office of the Information Commissioner
Tel.: 613-294-2032
Email: communications@oic-ci.gc.ca
Valérie Forgues
Senior Communications Advisor
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Tel: 873-354-7523
Email: communications@priv.gc.ca
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