Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Brian Beamish is calling for stronger privacy protections in a new set of child welfare laws, The Toronto Star reports. The new laws will give the Ministry of Children and Youth Services new and broad authority to collect, use and disclose personal information, though the privacy component of the Bill 89, the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, will be the first time children's aid societies are bound by privacy law. Under the forthcoming mandate, children's aid societies and other service providers must obtain consent before data collection and report privacy breaches to the privacy commissioner, but the Ministry is subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, not the new privacy laws. FIPPA "is a very old piece of legislation and in my view is outdated, and doesn't have the kinds of privacy protections that are required in this era of big data," Beamish said. 
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