About
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics studies and reports on matters referred to it by the House of Commons or on topics the Committee itself chooses to examine under its mandate. It is a standing committee established by the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. Bills, departmental activities and spending, and other matters related to the general subject matter of the Committee may be referred to it.
Under Standing Order 108(3)(h), the Committee’s mandate is to study matters related to reports of the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada, and the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, pursuant to the Conflict of Interest Act. Matters related to the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons are studied by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. The Committee can also study any legislation or regulation or propose initiatives that relate to access to information and privacy and to ethical standards relating to public office holders found in the Conflict of Interest Act.
Detailed information on the role and powers of House of Commons committees may be found in Our Procedure and in Chapter XIII of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.
The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics was established by an agreement of all parties represented in the House of Commons at the beginning of the 1st Session of the 38th Parliament. It held its first meeting in October 2004. On December 14, 2004, the House of Commons concurred in the twentieth report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, which established the Committee’s mandate.
In the execution of its functions, each committee is normally assisted by a committee clerk, a committee assistant, and one or more analysts. Occasional assistance is also provided by legislative clerks and lawyers from the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel. These individuals are non-partisan and serve all members of the committee and representatives of all parties equally.
Committee Clerk
The clerk performs their duties and responsibilities under the direction of the committee and its Chair. As an expert in the rules of the House of Commons, the clerk may be requested to give advice to the Chair and members of the committee should a question of procedure arise. The clerk is the coordinator, organizer and liaison officer for the committee, and as such, is in frequent contact with Members’ staff. The clerk is also responsible for inviting witnesses and dealing with all the details regarding their appearance before the committee.
Committee Assistant
The committee assistant provides a wide range of specialized administrative services for the organization of committee meetings and the publishing of documents on the committee’s website. The committee assistant works with the clerk to meet the needs of the committee.
Committee Analyst
The Library of Parliament’s analysts, who are subject-matter experts, provide authoritative, substantive, and timely research, analysis and information to all members of the committee. They are part of the committee’s institutional memory and are a unique resource for parliamentarians. Supported by research librarians, the analysts work individually or in multidisciplinary teams.
Analysts can prepare briefing notes on the subjects being examined, detailed study plans, lists of proposed witnesses, analyses of an issue with a list of suggested questions, background papers, draft reports, news releases, and formal correspondence.
OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE AS REQUIRED
Parliamentary Counsel
Within the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, parliamentary counsel (Legislation) are available to assist Members who are not in Cabinet with the preparation of private Members’ bills or of amendments to government bills or other bills.
At various stages of the legislative process, Members may propose amendments to bills. Amendments may first be proposed at the committee stage, during a committee’s clause-by-clause review of a bill. Amendments may also be proposed at the report stage, once a bill returns to the House. Once a bill is sent to committee, the clerk of the committee provides Members the name of the parliamentary counsel (Legislation) responsible for drafting the amendments for that bill.
Legislative Clerk
The legislative clerk serves all members of the committee as a specialist of the process by which a bill becomes law. They are available to give, upon request from Members and their staff, advice on the admissibility of amendments when bills are referred to committee. The legislative clerk organizes the amendments into packages for committee stage, reviews all the committee amendments for procedural admissibility and prepares draft rulings for the Chair.
During clause-by-clause consideration of bills in committee, a legislative clerk is in attendance to assist the committee with any procedural issues that may arise. The legislative clerk can also provide Members with advice regarding the procedural admissibility of report stage amendments. When a bill is sent to committee, the clerk of the committee provides to the Members the name of the legislative clerk assigned to the bill.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO)
The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) is an officer of Parliament created by the Parliament of Canada Act who supports Parliament by providing analysis, including analysis of macroeconomic and fiscal policy, for the purposes of raising the quality of parliamentary debate and promoting greater budget transparency and accountability.
The Parliament of Canada Act also provides the PBO with a mandate to, if requested by a committee, estimate the financial cost of any proposal over which Parliament has jurisdiction. Certain committees, including the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates, can also request research and analyses of the nation’s finances or economy, or of the estimates.
Further information on the PBO may be found at: http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/en/.
Based on its mandate to study matters related to the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada, and the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner pursuant to the Conflict of Interest Act, the Committee carried out, among other things, the following activities during the 44th Parliament:
• report entitled Oversight of Social Media Platforms: Ensuring Privacy and Safety Online;
• report entitled Federal Government’s Use of Technological Tools Capable of Extracting Personal Data from Mobile Devices and Computers;
• report entitled Foreign Interference and the Threats to the Integrity of Democratic Institutions, Intellectual Property and the Canadian State;
• report entitled The State of Canada’s Access to Information System;
• report entitled Device Investigative Tools Used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Related Issues;
• report entitled Facial Recognition Technology and the Growing Power of Artificial Intelligence;
• report entitled Collection and Use of Mobility Data by the Government of Canada and Related Issues;
• study of the annual reports and estimates of various commissioners’ offices;
• study of key appointments to various commissioners’ offices; and
• study of the third edition of the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct.
Annual reports, special reports to Parliament and other relevant publications produced by the various commissioners’ offices are available on their websites:
• Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada;
• Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada;
• Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada; and
• Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner.