Canada lawful access bill faces backlashes from privacy watchdog and tech giants – JURIST
Canada lawful access bill faces backlashes from privacy watchdog and tech giants – JURIST
Publish Date: 2026-05-28 03:56:00
Source Domain: www.jurist.org
Canadian Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne said Tuesday that the federal lawful access bill requires further amendments to strengthen privacy protections for Canadians despite the government’s previous efforts.
If enacted, Bill C-22 would authorize law enforcement officers to obtain subscriber information from electronic service providers for criminal investigations. Dufresne urged Parliament to limit the bill’s definition of subscriber information to a finite list. He warned that the current wording might give officers access to sensitive information such as a subscriber’s healthcare providers, lawyers or financial institutions.
Dufresne also raised concern about a provision exempting law enforcement from judicial oversight when receiving publicly available information. He recommended requiring officers to obtain a judicial warrant whenever Canadians retain a reasonable expectation of privacy in the information sought, including data exposed through breaches or leaks.
In addition, Dufresne called for the inclusion of an overarching obligation that government actions be necessary and proportionate. This amendment, if adopted, would appear in the proposed Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act contained in Part 2 of the bill. The act would require electronic service providers to retain categories of metadata–including transmission data–of all users in Canada for up to one year.
Tech giants, such as Apple and Google, voiced concerns Tuesday over the act’s privacy intrusion before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. Erik Neuenchwander, Apple’s senior director on user privacy, said: “This bill allows the Government of Canada to force companies to break encryption by inserting backdoors into their products, something Apple will never do.”
Previously, other technology companies, such as Signal and NordVPN, have indicated the possibility of leaving Canada if Parliament passes the bill in its…
