CHAIR'S FORWARD

As a human right, privacy belongs to everyone. Following the reports this Committee heard from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada last spring and subsequently from specialists, we were stunned at the wide-ranging capabilities of new technologies and their implications upon the right to privacy. Through our study, we have listened to as many voices across this country as possible during our consultations and townhall meetings. Canadians are all aware of the benefits that technology can bring. But they have never approved of peeping Toms or unauthorized wire-tapping and our criminal laws reflect this. After hearing hundreds of people from across the country, we know now that this same disapproval extends, for example, to hidden video cameras in the workplace, genetic testing for insurance purposes and to citizen identity cards.

Privacy is one of the most comprehensive of all human rights - broad, ambitious and valued around the world. Traditionally understood as the "right to be left alone," in this technological age, privacy has taken on new dimensions. To experts, privacy is the right to enjoy private space, to conduct private communications, to be free from surveillance and to respect the sanctity of one's body. To the average Canadian, privacy is a question of power - the ability to control one's personal information and to remain anonymous by choice.

Privacy, however, is not an inalienable right. Where do we draw the line? Where is the balance between social and economic needs such as crime and fraud prevention, health services and business practices on the one hand, and the protection of our private lives on the other? These questions have become all the more critical because once lost, our personal privacy can never be recaptured.

The dialogue that we began with Canadians across the country forms the crux of this report. I am encouraged to hear that this dialogue continues. For example, Jean Augustine, Member of Parliament for Etobicoke-Lakeshore, has carried the process further in her own constituency, and some of my other colleagues plan to do so as well.

I wish to thank all those who attended our townhall meetings, from the representatives of so many diverse interest groups, including unions, labour, management, business, social groups, professional associations and ordinary Canadians, to the renowned and learned specialists who acted as facilitators for those unique exchanges. Their frank expression of opinions and possible solutions to find the "fair balance" was much appreciated and formed the basis of our findings.

I also want to thank the members of this Committee for their dedication and thoughtfulness, including Warren Allmand, who left us in March for the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development. They willingly abandoned the traditional committee format and served as rapporteurs during our townhall meetings. I will never forget seeing them - flip charts at-hand - summarizing the views of the discussion groups.

I would also like to give special thanks, on behalf of all of the Members, to our Clerk, Wayne Cole, our Researchers from the Library of Parliament, Susan Alter, Nancy Holmes and Bill Young, our Hearings Coordinator, Valerie Steeves, and other House of Commons employees, including Members' staff, who have assisted us along the way.