Announcement

OPC announces new funding recipients for independent research: Assessing and mitigating privacy risks, barriers and inequalities

June 20, 2022

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) is proud to announce the new research and awareness projects funded as part of its 2022-2023 Contributions Program.

Understanding that privacy issues may affect diverse groups of people differently, the OPC wanted to explore the range of privacy-related experiences, barriers and inequalities in this area. Applicants were invited to submit proposals focusing on the theme: “Who is impacted and how: assessing and mitigating privacy risks, barriers and inequalities.”

The OPC received 33 proposals for the 2022-2023 funding cycle. The proposals were evaluated by the Office based on four main criteria: quality of the proposal, innovation, feasibility and expected results. Following the evaluation process, 11 projects were selected to receive funding support totaling $500,000.

This year the OPC enhanced its efforts to attract a broader range of applications and was pleased to receive proposals from across Canada, including a successful application from Nunavut. That project will look at privacy, artificial intelligence and machine learning through a “rural, remote and Indigenous lens.”

Other new projects will address topics such as First Nations data security; public perspectives on facial recognition technology; and privacy in virtual classrooms.

For a full list of successful projects, see: Contributions Program projects underway.

The Contributions Program funds independent privacy research and initiatives that generate new ideas, approaches, and knowledge to help organizations better safeguard personal information and to help Canadians make more informed decisions to protect their privacy.

The Contributions Program was created in 2004 to support arm’s length, non-profit research on privacy, further privacy policy development, and promote the protection of personal information in Canada. Since then, the Program has allocated approximately $8 million to more than 180 projects.

For more information, please contact François Cadieux, Manager, Policy and Research, at Francois.Cadieux@priv.gc.ca or at 613-867-7632.