Canada’s privacy commissioner says Liberals must amend internet surveillance bill

by Anthony Murdoch

Canada’s Bill C-22 would lead to increased government surveillance of confidential data and allow police to open Canadians’ mail, advocates have warned.

(LifeSiteNews) — Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne has gone after a Liberal internet surveillance law, saying that it needs to be amended so that limits are put in place for information requests from authorities.

Dufresne noted how Bill C-22, or the Liberals’ “dystopian” internet censorship measure, as one legal expert put it, needs protections for Canadians’ privacy.

As reported by LifeSiteNews, Bill C-22 was recently introduced by Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree. It gives bold new powers to police, as it permits them and government officials to open and examine Canadians’ personal mail and would also ban cash donations over $10,000.

The bill mandates that telecom and internet companies ensure that their systems include surveillance and monitoring capabilities, which could be shared with police and intelligence agencies.

Dufresne, while speaking to Canadian senators, said that the bill needs to be amended and studied more to “protect the privacy of Canadians while continuing to provide to state authorities the tools needed to carry out their important work.”

The bill reads that police must still apply to a judge so that they can obtain information for an investigation.

Dufresne noted that there should be a limit on what organizations can give information to telecommunications companies. Also, he said that there needs to be clearer language in the bill relating to public information and that there needs to be an expectation to respect people’s privacy.

Regarding Bill C-22, LifeSiteNews reported how Marty Moore, who works with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), warned that that the Liberals’ bill will lead to a “greater risk” for religious freedoms.

JCCF president John Carpay has warned that Bill C-22 “empowers government to require electronic service providers to install surveillance and interception capacity on their networks, and keep confidential user metadata (e.g., location, call duration, contacts) on file for six months.”