• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
  • About
    • Board of Directors
    • Advisory Board
    • Code of Ethics
    • Privacy Commitment
    • Fellowship Awards
    • Media
  • Get Involved
    • Membership
      • Advancing the Profession
      • Member Benefits
      • Why Join the PACC
      • Member Contact Update
    • Speak Out
    • Volunteer
    • Donate
      • Donor Bill of Rights
  • Certification
    • Apply for Certification
    • Recertification
    • Why Pursue Certification?
    • Certificate or Certification?
    • Accreditation
  • Resources
    • Strategic Privacy and Access Resource Center
      • Parents & Teachers
      • Standards
      • SPARC Contribution Guidelines
    • International Data Flows
    • Commissioners
    • Careers
    • Publications
    • Training & Education
  • News & Views
    • Guest Post Guidelines
  • Contact
    • Speaking Invitations & Media Requests
    • Stay Informed & Avoid Spam
    • Partner
  • Login

The Privacy and Access Council of Canada

The voice for privacy and access

Public Health Privacy Predicament

13/May/2020

In a world of political monkey-see-monkey-do, in which our own Prime Minister has assured that “there is nothing we won’t do” to keep Canadians safe, comes a new and credible threat to Canadians’ privacy, freedoms, and democratic institutions from the other side of the globe.

On May 8th, New Zealand was applauded for proactively publishing several dozen papers that Cabinet or Cabinet Committees had considered in relation to the country’s COVID-19 response. Mere days later, and within 24 hours, New Zealand passed the COVID 19 Public Health Response Act. The new law gives the government and police extraordinarily wide powers, which the government claims are needed as New Zealand eases its COVID-19-related restrictions on people and businesses. 

Privacy and civil liberties proponents who received the draft bill were given 16 hours (overnight) to review, comment, and make recommendations — few of which were implemented. 

• The final text reduced the duration of the law from 2 years to 3 months — but that can be rolled over and renewed (à la USA PATRIOT Act).

• The law allows warrantless police entry into people’s homes and businesses. 

• Police constables, and a new class of ‘enforcement officers’, have to report on the exercise of their powers, but the requirement is very vague. 

• The law does not require data to be collected about how the powers are used in relation to people’s age, ethnicity, or gender.

• The law does not require public reporting on the use of the sweeping police powers. 

• The law allows police and enforcement officers to close any public place.

• The law allows “enforcement officers” to “direct a person to give the person’s full name, full address, date of birth, occupation, and telephone number.”

The final Act is here.

The NZ Human Rights Commissioner said the law “is a great failure of the democratic process”.

Never Again is now.

Filed Under: Advocacy, Government, Legislation, Privacy, Surveillance

Footer

PACC is the voice for privacy and access.

PACC is Independent  •  Non-profit  •  Non-partisan  •  Non-government

PACC is dedicated to the development and promotion of the access-to-information, information privacy, and data governance profession across the private, non-profit and public sectors.

PACC is the certifying body for access and privacy professionals, and engages in outreach efforts to advance awareness about access, privacy, and data protection.

Recent Posts

  • Facial Recognition Cameras Here to Stay as Country’s Court System Entrenches Video Surveillance
  • IPC consultation on five-year strategic priorities under way
  • Info watchdog raps Privy Council Office for terminating access requests from public
  • A year to forget that’s worth remembering
  • BC Increases Routine Disclosure

© 2021 · Privacy and Access Council of Canada · Maintained by SLIcore Design.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoPrivacy policy