Agenda

From healthcare to personalized pricing, governments and industry are embracing AI to improve administrative and operational efficiencies, reduce risk, and provide better user experiences. 

Dawn Gallagher Murphy and Vass Bednar will explore the ethical considerations that go into choosing AI-based technologies to ensure privacy can be preserved. 

Practitioners and the public often focus on privacy, and overlook the importance of access to information for individuals, corporations, and governments. Crafting legislation and regulation, and ensuring public policy and practice provide genuine access to information, are critical for democracy.

Toby Mendel, who has advised governments around the world, will share expertise and insights about the vital connection between the right to information and a well-functioning democracy.

Dealing with domestic cases of online harassment can be challenging for lawyers and courts, and overwhelming for victims — whose credibility, employment opportunities, and life choices can be undermined. The challenges are exacerbated when the victim and perpetrator are in different countries.

British Columbia Attorney General and Deputy Premier, Niki Sharma K.C., will reveal how international doxing and harassment can be handled — and avoided.

A fireside chat with legal scholar Milad Khani.

Quebec is distinct in many ways, from language to culture to legislation — and it now boasts the most stringent privacy law in Canada.

Antoine Guilmain, who has literally written the book on Law 25, will explain its provisions, its similarities with the GDPR, and how it can provid a model for modernizing PIPEDA.

From consent models to personalized pricing, laws have proven ineffective at protecting privacy.

Lisa LeVasseur and Kasie Lewis-Graham will explore new approaches and new research that reveal viable alternatives. 

Advanced technologies help police better detect, prevent, and investigate criminal activity. Some of those technologies also have the potential for profound impact on police, both personally and professionally.

Kurt Martin and Ron Anderson will explore some of the latest technologies employed or being considered by the Edmonton Police Service, and what law enforcement agencies do to protect public privacy. 

Remote work has improved employee morale and productivity in many sectors. Along with the benefits has come a wave of bossware that goes beyond cameras that are constant reminders to employees that they are being watched.

Now lurking in the background are hidden systems track keystrokes, AI-enabled systems monitor communications and evaluate content to detect emotion or intent. 

Adam Molnar will uncover the hidden cost of pervasive surveillance privacy and employee morale.

Australia has banned children under 16 from accessing social media. Canada is moving to ban under-14s, and other countries are following suit. Is that enough or the right approach to protect children from online harms? 

• Moderator: Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario TBC
• Aany Mariel Vital Ramos, RCMP National Youth Advisory Council
• Valerie Steeves, University of Ottawa
• Marc Alexandre Ladouceur, MediaSmarts

Professional bodies often publish personal information about their members, typically as a service to the public. But what happens when that information is weaponized? And what role does cybersecurity play in protecting information and preventing harm?

Lisa Switzman and Jennifer Quaid will reveal what harms result from doxing, and what professional bodies can and should do to protect the data, their members, and the public.

For decades Canada’s leaders have declared they agree with the internationally accepted statement, backed up by research, that  whistleblowers play a pivotal role and are the best mechanism to unveil corruption, abuse of power, and systemic injustices. Their disclosures have led to greater transparency and accountability in both the public and private sectors, sparking reforms that have improved the lives of countless individuals.

Canada has federal and provincial whistleblower protection laws in place, but what is the reality? Can laws alone protect whistleblowers and create healthy, speak-up workplace cultures? How can whistleblower and witness privacy and confidentiality be balanced against natural justice and procedural fairness? What are the implications for privacy and access and our democratic institutions? And what is the importance of transparency in communicating results?

Pamela Forward, Harriet Solloway, and Brian Radford will give a clear view of whistleblower legislation and practice in Canada, and the pivotal role that privacy and access play. 

Prepare your questions and join the conversation as regulators engage in this perennial favorite to discuss what things keep them awake at night, what things they’re watching, and what things they are (or aren’t) looking forward to.

• Moderator: Marc Gagne
• Caroline Maynard, Information Commissioner of Canada
• Patricia Kosseim, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario TBC
• Diane McLeod, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta
• Grace Hession David, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Saskatchewan
• Naomi Ayotte, Vice-Commissioner, Commission d’acces a l’information du Quebec TBC