Thanks to a recent Court of Appeal decision, the face of privacy and surveillance in Canada is poised to change dramatically.
The Privacy and Access Council of Canada is conducting a survey to gauge surveillance-readiness in Canada, and gather views about the future of surveillance and privacy in Canada..
Please take a moment to share your insights about surveillance in your community.
Visit http://ow.ly/N94950xRevz BEFORE JANUARY 17, 2020 to have your say.
Your input is important.
The findings will show how ready Canadians and their communities are to implement surveillance and other monitoring technologies.
Survey responses will be used — without identifying respondents in any way — to advance awareness about access, privacy, and data protection in Canada.
BACKGROUND:
In a unanimous decision, the Alberta Court of Appeal recently held that the City of Calgary must have enough surveillance cameras on public spaces — with sufficient monitoring — to meet a new “duty to detect” incidents within five minutes, and to have first responders on scene within another five minutes.
The Supreme Court of Canada rejected a request to consider the case, so:
• municipalities across Canada must now meet the new “duty to detect” and respond within the timelines imposed by the Court
• the privacy and Charter-protected freedoms of everyone who spends any time in public spaces will be jeopardized as their movements and associations are routinely monitoring, cataloguing, and analysis
• taxes will have to increase to enable municipalities to fund the technology and personnel needed to be able meet the new Court-imposed duties
Of course, the decision will also have incalculable impacts on privacy and access-to-information practitioners and practices across the country as individuals, defence and plaintiffs’ counsel, and others request access to the wealth of information captured by surveillance systems.
To participate in the survey, visit ow.ly/N94950xRevz BEFORE JANUARY 17, 2020.
