In late March, the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics began a study of the breach of personal information involving Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, and the broader privacy implications of platform monopolies, which play an outsized role in our daily lives.

The scandal has brought to light issues relating to mass data harvesting, the use of data for nefarious purposes, and the threats and challenges these questionable methods can create for democracies around the world.

The evidence that the Committee has heard so far gives rise to grave concerns that the Canadian democratic and electoral process is similarly vulnerable to improper acquisition and manipulation of personal data.

In the Committee’s view and in light of the evidence heard thus far, it has become quite apparent that the government of Canada must urgently act in order to better protect the privacy of Canadians. It should:

• Strengthen the powers of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, including the authority for the Privacy Commissioner to levy significant fines against organizations that contravene the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA);
• Subject political activities to laws that protect Canadians’ privacy;
• Regulate organizations and political actors to make them more transparent in their collection, use, and disclosure of personal information, including the use of any targeting and profiling techniques;
• Establish data sovereignty rules and requirements to ensure that Canadians’ personal information is protected;
• Implement the recommendations of the Committee contained in its report on PIPEDA tabled in February 2018, in order to better align federal privacy legislation with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The Committee is conscious of the fact that it has only scratched the surface of the problem in this study and that many conclusions remain undrawn. It will continue this study with determination, in the hopes that it can contribute to a lasting solution for a global challenge.

In the meantime, this interim report provides insight into the work of the Committee and the evidence it has heard in the first few months of its study. Most importantly, it puts forward several preliminary recommendations for the consideration of the government of Canada.