Ontario privacy watchdog to have ‘zero tolerance’ for police database breaches with new powers, commissioner says
Publish Date: 2026-05-25 05:00:00
Source Domain: www.theglobeandmail.com
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Alleged misuse of law-enforcement databases is at the centre of the recent Project South police corruption probe, which has resulted in seven active Toronto Police Service officers being criminally charged.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Patricia Kosseim, says there will be a “zero-tolerance policy” for database breaches by police under new powers her office will soon have to help investigate and prevent unauthorized snooping.
Police officers in Ontario have access to various law-enforcement databases containing troves of confidential personal information. However, unlike provincial institutions, most of the province’s police services are not required to report database breaches to the Privacy Commissioner’s office.
Alleged misuse by officers of these databases is at the centre of the recent Project South police corruption probe, which has resulted in seven active Toronto Police Service officers being criminally charged. Ontario’s Inspectorate of Policing is performing a systemic review of police anti-corruption practices throughout the province, including database usage, as a result of the case.
Thirty federal cases affected after Toronto police officers charged in Project South probe
Ms. Kosseim said in an interview that her ability to monitor police data breaches will be boosted next year, when new amendments to Ontario’s municipal privacy legislation are scheduled to take effect.
The changes to Ontario’s Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which were passed as part of the province’s budget bill in April, she said, could be a game-changer for police accountability for more than 40 police forces in the province.
The amendments, which Ms. Kosseim said she had long called for, mean that municipal entities such as police forces will have to start producing privacy impact assessments of new technologies and disclosing data leaks to her office.
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