Gobble gobble. Can you believe it’s already Thanksgiving weekend? I suppose there are cues everywhere: leaves turning colour, colder air, darker evenings. It’s truly an awesome time of year to live in Canada.

My kids recently came across this online test you can take to determine if you’re an optimist or pessimist. For me, I find it’s really easy to fall into the trap of looking at things like the glass is half empty. After all, in the privacy industry there can be plenty to gripe about.

But, in honour of Thanksgiving weekend, I’m declaring that there’s a lot in our industry to feel pretty positive about. Here are three things that come to my mind. If you have any others that you’d like to share, please do. I’d love to hear what is making your job enjoyable.

1. The Supreme Court of Canada confirming that we all have a reasonable expectation of privacy online. Considering how much time we spend on connected devices and, in particular, the private things we do there, it’s a welcome statement from our highest court.

2. That, in Canada, we have privacy commissioners who truly care about the issue. They don’t just use their position for personal gain or political maneuvering. I say this applies equally to all of those that work for the commissioners, too.

3. I don’t want to sound too self-indulgent, but I truly believe that one thing to be thankful for is the IAPP. It’s a testament to our profession that our association is as responsive, creative and helpful as it is. I am honoured to work with it, and I hope that you too are getting everything out of it that you can.

I hope this weekend brings you a little break and, more importantly, an opportunity to take pause and be thankful for all those positives in your life. Oh yeah, and an awesome turkey, of course. I'll be making my famous stuffing.

Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving!