You may have noticed that last week the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada tabled its 2021-22 Annual Report to Parliament. An article by IT World Canada does a good job of summarizing it.
I’m not going to do the same thing here. I thought what I would do in this space, this week, is highlight something that gives us a window into how the new privacy commissioner, Philippe Dufresne, will approach his mandate.
In case you missed it, in his message in the report Commissioner Dufresne stated he will be promoting and implementing a vision that recognizes:
- “Privacy as a fundamental right;
- Privacy in support of the public interest and Canada’s innovation and competitiveness; and
- Privacy as an accelerator of Canadians’ trust in their institutions and a driver in their participation and contribution towards a robust digital economy.”
If you watched his appearance before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, when he was first being appointed, you might be familiar with these three themes. I think it’s worth paying close attention to them because, unless I’m reading too much into things, they hint at how the OPC and the new commissioner will be looking at issues moving forward. And that can directly impact the day-to-day work of privacy pros like you and me.
What I quite like about the ideas he’s put forward is that privacy is paramount for the OPC, which makes sense, but it suggests an understanding of the real interplay with innovation, competitiveness and the digital economy, and how we need to get all these things right. No small task, for sure. He also talks about how it will require collaboration with many different parties to get there.
Between new leadership and new laws coming (presumably), it’s going to be very interesting to see if and how the OPC’s approach evolves over the next while. What are you hoping to see?