Ontario Provincial Government Seeks Input on How to Bolster Privacy Protection of Personal Data

On August 13, 2020, the province of Ontario (the Province) launched consultations with people and businesses from a wide range of sectors, including technology, finance and service, and the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario in an effort to improve the province’s privacy protection laws. The Province’s overarching goal of these consultations is to strengthen transparency and accountability concerning the collection, use and safeguarding of personal information online.

Lisa Thompson, the Province’s Minister of Government and Consumer Services said “with the increased reliance [on digital platforms to carry out day-to-day tasks], there is a strong need to build public and consumer confidence and trust in the digital economy”, and that she encouraged Ontarians to participate in these consultations.

Through the consultations, the Province aims to seek advice on ways to:

• increase transparency for individuals;
• enhance consent provisions;
• introduce a right for individuals to request information related to them to be deleted;
• introduce a right for individuals to obtain their data in a portable digital format;
• increase enforcement powers for the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario;
• introduce requirements for de-identified and derivative data arising from personal information
• expand the scope and application of current privacy protection laws; and
• create a legislative framework to enable the establishment of data trusts for privacy protective data sharing.

Written submissions from impacted businesses and the general public will be accepted until October 1, 2020. Details on how to participate can be found here.

Summary By: Hashim Ghazi