By Jim Bronskill The Canadian Press
OTTAWA – The scope of the Conservative government’s anti-terrorism bill is “clearly excessive” and puts the personal information of Canadians at risk, the federal privacy commissioner warns.
n a submission to the House of Commons public safety committee, Daniel Therrien says measures in the bill to guard against unreasonable loss of privacy are “seriously deficient.”In their own brief to the committee studying the bill, Therrien’s provincial and territorial counterparts say the provisions significantly expand government powers to monitor and profile ordinary, law-abiding Canadians.
“Such a state of affairs would be inconsistent with the rule of law in our democratic state and contrary to the expectations of Canadians,” they say.
The federal government brought in the bill – which would significantly expand the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s mandate – following the daylight murders of two soldiers last October.
The legislation would give CSIS the ability to disrupt terror plots, make it easier to limit the movements of a suspect, expand no-fly list powers and crack down on terrorist propaganda.
It would also remove many barriers to sharing security-related information, raising grave concerns on the part of the privacy commissioners.
Privacy watchdogs say anti-terrorism bill unduly exposes personal info - National | Globalnews.ca
To me this is like a police state where law-biding citizens are presumed guilty and will have to prove they are innocent. I understand something needs to be done but do believe there should be something to protect privacy of law-biding Canadians.
OTTAWA – The scope of the Conservative government’s anti-terrorism bill is “clearly excessive” and puts the personal information of Canadians at risk, the federal privacy commissioner warns.
n a submission to the House of Commons public safety committee, Daniel Therrien says measures in the bill to guard against unreasonable loss of privacy are “seriously deficient.”In their own brief to the committee studying the bill, Therrien’s provincial and territorial counterparts say the provisions significantly expand government powers to monitor and profile ordinary, law-abiding Canadians.
“Such a state of affairs would be inconsistent with the rule of law in our democratic state and contrary to the expectations of Canadians,” they say.
The federal government brought in the bill – which would significantly expand the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s mandate – following the daylight murders of two soldiers last October.
The legislation would give CSIS the ability to disrupt terror plots, make it easier to limit the movements of a suspect, expand no-fly list powers and crack down on terrorist propaganda.
It would also remove many barriers to sharing security-related information, raising grave concerns on the part of the privacy commissioners.
Privacy watchdogs say anti-terrorism bill unduly exposes personal info - National | Globalnews.ca
To me this is like a police state where law-biding citizens are presumed guilty and will have to prove they are innocent. I understand something needs to be done but do believe there should be something to protect privacy of law-biding Canadians.
