Canada

In its July 16 ruling, the European court declared the Privacy Shield, which has underpinned data flows between the European Union and the U.S., to be immediately invalid. Suddenly, as many as 5,000 companies, from banks to payroll processors and social media goliaths like Facebook and Google, are forced to…

The Tim Hortons breakfast empire is feeling the heat in its native Canada over the data collection practices of its mobile app. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), along with the privacy commissioners of the provinces of Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia is launching an investigation to…

By Jennifer Stoddart Quebec appears poised to adopt a strong new digital privacy law, a move that should be applauded. Bill 64, as the draft legislation is known, brings many commendable privacy protections for consumers. But several key provisions — notably its “equivalency requirement” — will be hard to implement…

A courier arrived at my apartment door, handed me a heavy cardboard envelope and asked me to sign for it. This was serious business, and Toronto-Dominion Bank was not messing around. Weeks earlier, I’d sent a formal request to see all my personal information held by my bank. It’s the…

Canada’s highest court has issued a ruling today upholding a federal law preventing third parties, such as employers and insurance companies, from demanding genetic information from individuals. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court of Canada has decided the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act is a constitutional exercise of federal powers. In a curious twist, the federal government…

Data Security in Our Telcos  

It didn’t take long for criminals to take advantage of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement that Canada has approved a COVID-19 tracing app to go into action. According to security vendor ESET, it discovered two fake websites designed to look like official Government of Canada sites were quickly created after…

In December 2017, the INDU Committee released the CASL Review.  According to the Report: “The statutory review of CASL took place between September 26 and December 12, 2017. Throughout that period, the Committee held 13 meetings, heard from 41 witnesses and received 29 briefs from a wide array of stakeholders…

Thank you to Cristina Onosé, Sarah Nasrullah and Haley Fine for your assistance in developing this article and support.  Executive Summary The renegotiated North-American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA 2.0, will have a significant impact on companies. The fundamental concept in the United States, Mexico and Canada Agreement is the…

On June 12, 2020, the day before the Québec National Assembly adjourned until September 2020, the Government of Québec introduced Bill 64, An Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information. The proposal would bring significant changes to Québec private sector and public sector privacy law.…