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I occasionally get stats about how many people read this Canada Dashboard Digest introduction and I'm humbled by the numbers. That said, since I can't be sure everyone reads it to the very end, this week I'm giving you the best-kept secret in the Canadian privacy industry at the very beginning.
It's not going to be officially announced until next week — so sssshhhh — but I'm thrilled to share that this year's Canada Privacy Symposium is going to have Canada's own Rick Mercer onstage. At this point I don't have too many details about his 40-minute keynote address, but I definitely want a front-row seat to witness one of his rants live and in person.
"This Hour Has 22 Minutes" would never have been as successful without his thoughtful, humorous and important monologues. And, especially in these times, I'm really looking forward to hearing from one of Canada's greatest commentators.
Speaking of Canadians who have had an impact and can command a stage, today we're acknowledging Ann Cavoukian as part of the IAPP's 25th anniversary celebration of 25 privacy leaders and 25 defining moments that helped establish the privacy and digital governance profession.
The IAPP’s Jed Bracy asked me for a couple of my own thoughts about Ann. I emphasized that Ann's pioneering work on privacy by design has, without a doubt, reshaped how organizations should approach data protection. By embedding privacy into the very framework of system design, she really set a global standard.
As a regulator, Ann seemed to have boundless energy and was always all-in. There's an incident that stands out, where health records were scattered all over a Toronto street, and she actually went to the scene of the breach and personally scooped up as many records as possible. Ann continues to contribute to the privacy profession in many ways.
Please watch your feeds as the IAPP continues to roll out features on so many great privacy leaders. I don't know how they will be able to stick to just 25, but that's the assignment.
While I didn't summarize the privacy news this week, you'll definitely want to read the articles to catch up on what's been going on. In brief, there's a story about how B.C. police officers are citing privacy rights in an investigation into their private chat groups. In Ontario, the Information and Privacy Commissioner's Office responded to concerns about unsolicited texts from political candidates in the province's election. And Nova Scotia Information and Privacy Commissioner Tricia Ralph issued her report into a breach by that province, saying the government could have done more to protect it.
With that, please read on and, now that you know Rick Mercer is on board, make sure you book your ticket to attend the Symposium before we sell out.
Kris Klein, CIPP/C, CIPM, FIP, is the managing director for Canada for the IAPP.
This article originally appeared in the Canada Dashboard Digest, a free weekly IAPP newsletter. Subscriptions to this and other IAPP newsletters can be found here.