‘Tis The Season For News Of Privacy Commissioners

Two recent comings-and-goings involving privacy commissioners indicate how important this role has become in Canadian public life. At the provincial level, Ontario’s Information & Privacy Commissioner for the past 15 years, Ann Cavoukian, will be taking an important role in a new enterprise at Toronto-based Ryerson University. As of July 1, Dr Cavoukian will assume the new role of Executive Director of Ryerson’s Institute for Privacy and Big Data. At the federal level, filling the gap left by the resignation of Jennifer Stoddart as Canada’s Privacy Commissioner has become somewhat controversial, spawning the lead editorial in the June 3 issue of The Globe And Mail, entitled “Privacy: is the watchdog too tame?” Summary by: Richard Potter