Since the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision in R. v. Cole was issued in October 2012, I’ve seen press reports, blog posts and law firm newsletter articles talk about the existence of computer-related expectations of privacy in an employment context. This is somewhat contrary to the conventional wisdom that employers, with notice and through […]

Under PIPEDA, “lawful authority” arises as a preliminary matter when an organization is approached for a request for personal information by a “government institution or part thereof”. While a “clarification” of “lawful authority” is one of the proposed amendments to PIPEDA, the issue is really about whether organizations should disclose to law enforcement authorities. While […]

Canadian courts are increasingly taking up the subject of privacy and two judicial decisions issued this year in Alberta, Canada’s Wild Rose Country, do make you wonder how privacy law will evolve in this country.

Last week saw a flurry of reports about the case of R. v. Cole. Cole is a decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal involving charges of possession of child pornography. Two reports in the National Post and Globe and Mail suggest this is a groundbreaking decision with significant implications for employers across Canada with […]

There’s a reason why they are called “data protection” as opposed to “privacy” laws. In Canada, the privacy rights you have come from the Charter of Rights – our data protection laws provide rules principally as to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information with more than a passing nod to other topics such […]

If you’re someone caught up in a data breach or a person who can point to an actual violation of privacy, an obvious question is whether you suffered harm and should you be compensated? Three PIPEDA-related decisions from Canadian courts in 2010 offer a glimpse of different approaches to the subject of privacy-related damages. 

A couple of weeks ago, Chantal Bernier, Assistant Privacy Commissioner of Canada, made a presentation in Toronto that included something that strikes me as a positive and noteworthy development. It was about how the federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC”) now looks at privacy impact assessments (“PIAs”).

Hi there. We’re the Ontario Government. We know you have diabetes but don’t worry we’re here to help. We’re going to send “The Diabetes Testing Report” to your doctor. It will tell him or her when you last had three important tests: blood sugar test (A1C), cholesterol test (LDL), and retinal eye exam. If you […]