Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics

Comité permanent de l'accès à l'information, de la protection des renseignements personnels et de l'éthique

For immediate release

Ottawa, December 13, 2017 -

Today, Bob Zimmer, MP and Chair of the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, presented a report entitled Protecting Canadians’ Privacy at the U.S. Border to the House of Commons.

The Committee’s report outlines eight recommendations to improve privacy protection for Canadians at the United States border. One key recommendation is to ask the Government of the United States to add Canada to the list of designated countries under the United States Judicial Redress Act.

The Committee also recommends including the guidelines in the operational bulletin of the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) entitled Examination of Digital Devices and Media at the Port of Entry – Guidelines in the Customs Act.

Its other recommendations address the following issues:

• replacing the threshold of “multiplicity of indicators” required for the search of electronic devices set out in the CBSA operational bulletin with the threshold defined in law of “reasonable grounds to suspect”;

• tracking the examination of electronic devices at border crossings and in airports, compiling statistics on these examinations and providing updates to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in that regard;

• ensuring that legislation on the preclearance of travellers in Canada includes privacy protections and requires the threshold of “reasonable grounds to suspect” for examinations of electronic devices by officers in preclearance areas;

• working with the Government of the United States to monitor the application of existing information sharing agreements with the United States in order to ensure that Canadian personal information remains protected following the signing of Executive Order 13768 on 25 January 2017, and informing the Privacy Commissioner of any changes;

• establishing a retention period for personal information that is dependent on the government’s policy objectives in collecting the information;

• creating positions for internal privacy and civil liberties officers within the CBSA to monitor privacy issues at the agency level.

“After hearing witness testimony throughout this study, it is clear that I, along with many Canadians, are concerned about protecting their personal information when travelling beyond our borders. That is why, in this report, we are recommending that the Government modernize the Customs Act to ensure that personal information on electronic devices is protected and should only be examined with reasonable grounds” said Bob Zimmer, Chair of the Committee.

“Our government should take every step that it can to protect Canadians’ privacy, including in the US and at the border” said Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Vice-Chair of the Committee.

“The Committee determined that our government must request that the United States include Canada to the list of designated countries under the Judicial Redress Act – our government’s current position for not doing so is unjustified. We’re calling on the government to make this request, as have 26 European nations, so that we can better protect the privacy of Canadian citizens at United States borders” said Nathan Cullen, Vice-Chair of the Committee.

The Committee held three meetings as part of this study and heard from 15 witnesses, including privacy experts and government representatives. The Committee also received two briefs on this topic. The witness testimony heard by the Committee and the briefs submitted are available on the Committee’s website.

The Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics has 11 members. It is chaired by Bob Zimmer (Prince George–Peace River–Northern Rockies), with vice-chairs Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (Beaches–East York) and Nathan Cullen (Skeena–Bulkley Valley). The other members are Frank Baylis (Pierrefonds–Dollard), Emmanuel Dubourg (Bourassa), Mona Fortier (Ottawa–Vanier), Jacques Gourde (Lévis–Lotbinière), the Honourable Peter Kent (Thornhill), Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra, Parliamentary Secretary – non-voting member), Michel Picard (Montarville) and Raj Saini (Kitchener Centre).