(Disponible en français : Résumé – Les lois fédérales du Canada sur la protection de la vie privée)
The right to privacy is recognized as a quasi-constitutional right in Canada. At the federal level, two pieces of legislation provide some privacy protections: the Privacy Act, which applies to the public sector, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which applies to the private sector.
This background paper gives an overview of these two laws, examining their history and various efforts to modernize them over the years as Canadian society has become increasingly reliant on digital technologies.
Read the full text of the Background Paper: Canada’s Federal Privacy Laws
Authors: Miguel Bernal-Castillero and Nancy Holmes, Library of Parliament
Revised by: Alexandra Savoie and Maxime-Olivier Thibodeau, Library of Parliament
Categories: Executive summary, Law, justice and rights