CANADIAN PRIVACY REGULATIONS
ILLUSTRATION PROVIDED BY ADOBE STOCK
CANADIAN
PRIVACY LAW REFORM : HAS THE TRAIN LEFT ? THE FUTURE OF BILL C-27 IS UNCERTAIN .
BY SARA CLODMAN , CANADIAN MARKETING ASSOCIATION ( CMA )
Like many countries , federal and some provincial governments in Canada have been considering updates to their private sector privacy laws .
These laws govern the collection , use , or disclosure of personal information of Canadian residents in the course of commercial activities , including through contact centers . They would apply to organizations operating within Canada and those outside Canada with a " real and substantial connection " to the country .
Canada ’ s current federal law ( the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act , known as PIPE- DA ), passed in 2000 , served for many years as the international gold standard for the protection of personal information .
PIPEDA has widely recognized strengths , including its balanced purpose statement , which embraces the enormous social and economic benefits of data use for Canadians , while protecting individuals ’ right to privacy .
... BILL C-27 ... IS IN- TENDED TO MOD- ERNIZE CANADA ’ S PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVACY FRAME- WORK THROUGH A PROPOSED CON- SUMER PRIVACY PROTECTION ACT ...
PIPEDA ’ s principles-based framework , for the most part , has stood the test of time . It has provided considerable flexibility , allowing privacy protections to be applied to a range of fast-moving technologies and applications .
PIPEDA ’ S REPLACEMENT : CPPA VIA C-27
In recent years , the Canadian government determined that PIPEDA needed to be replaced with a law that provides more meaningful privacy protection in the digital age .
In 2022 , the government introduced Bill C-27 , which is intended to modernize Canada ’ s private sector privacy framework through a proposed Consumer Privacy Protection Act ( CPPA ), and which will replace PIPEDA .
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