I’m not sure if every data protection authority in Canada does it, but if you were given the reins, would you start by setting strategic priorities for your office? Patricia Kosseim, who recently took the Ontario position, is wasting no time coming up with a road map, and she’s looking for input.

This week, she launched a public consultation seeking feedback on a paper the office also released. In broad strokes, the office has targeted the following topics as potential strategic drivers for the work they will do over the next five years:

• Government digital service delivery.
• Transparency and open government.
• Responsible use of data for good.
• Access, privacy and youth.
• Next-generation law enforcement.
• Trust in virtual health.

I’m definitely going to read the whole paper and give it some thought before responding. But, they sure did make it easy to provide input; there’s even an easy-to-use web form you can quickly fill out.

What jumps out at me is the underlying notion that ethics is going to play a role in the near future. I suppose it already does, but I think when you start with topics such as “responsible use of data for good,” you’re essentially stating that ethics are going to be an even bigger driver in the coming years.

This is consistent with some of the work done by the Information Accountability Foundation. You may recall back in September, in a blog post, Martin Abrams suggested Canada is a fertile place to grow the concept of "People Beneficial Data Processing" — a concept that once again supports the notion that consent can’t be the answer to everything; rather, we need to better understand the role of the ethical use of processing personal information.

I’m excited to see what the future holds for privacy in Canada — and in Ontario — with respect to the DPA in that province seemingly ready to take a modern approach to its role as regulator.

Now, read up on the rest of the news for this week and then check out just how easy it is to provide input to the Ontario IPC.