While most Canadians slept, the Liberal government pushed through a series of changes watering down their controversial bill that facilitates police and intelligence agencies' ability to intercept and collect personal information. Starting late Wednesday night and going into the early morning Thursday, members of the House of Commons public safety committee blitzed through amendments of the contentious lawful access reform Bill C-22.
Opposition MPs argued that the Liberals were using their majority to ram an extremely sensitive bill through Parliament. Lawful access, or the ability to obtain Canadians' private information and intercept communications, is one of the most intrusive powers afforded to police and intelligence agencies.
On Wednesday night, the committee passed all of two dozen government amendments to the bill, while the Liberals voted against and defeated most changes proposed by opposition parties. The changes are likely to assuage some, but far from all, of the wide range of criticism of the bill by opposition parties, tech giants, privacy and civil liberties groups, legal associations, and academics.
Key Amendment on Metadata Retention
One of the most significant Liberal amendments was to water down a controversial requirement for electronic service providers to retain clients' metadata from a maximum of one year to six months. It also limits the metadata retained to elements deemed essential to an investigation. The move is notable because three weeks ago, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree told reporters he would not dilute the retention obligation, arguing police needed it because investigators sometimes need months to figure out what evidence they're looking for.
Reactions and Context
The metadata retention clause had privacy and security specialists up in arms, arguing that one year was far too long and a violation of Canadians' right to privacy. Police witnesses said they'd prefer a two- or three-year period. Canada is the only G7 country without a lawful access regime designed in the digital age. Bill C-22 is the federal government's ninth attempt at lawful access reform in over three decades and is divided into two parts.
The first part—generally supported by all parties—proposes that police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) be able to approach telecommunications companies and ask them if, yes or no, an individual is a client before having to get a warrant. It then sets out a new path for authorities to obtain client information from the companies with the appropriate warrant.
The second part of C-22 is far more contentious. It proposes new obligations to electronic service providers to organize and retain various types of client data in a way that makes it obtainable by law enforcement or CSIS with a warrant. That means that if passed, the bill would compel electronic service providers to store and make information like device locations or cameras available to police or CSIS with the requisite warrant. That could be used to track a person's live location in case they pose a threat to national security or are in danger, the government cited as examples.
