Release: President of the Treasury Board responds to BC cross-border privacy report

The following was released by the President of the Treasury Board, Reg Alcock, on Friday, October 29, 2004:

Statement by Reg Alcock, President of the Treasury Board, in response to the report issued by the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia:

"For immediate release
October 29, 2004

Ottawa - Reg Alcock, President of the Treasury Board issued the following statement today in response to the report issued by the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia on Privacy and the USA Patriot Act:

"The Government of Canada is currently reviewing the report released today by the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia on Privacy and the USA Patriot Act. We are committed to doing everything we can to protect the privacy of Canadians with respect to key federal personal and sensitive information holdings. The Government will continue to work closely with the federal Privacy Commissioner, provincial governments and the private sector to protect the security and privacy of Canadians and the interests of Canadian businesses.

We are also calling on Canadian businesses to continue to respect the privacy rights of Canadians with regards to information the private sector possesses on individual Canadians, as legislated under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.

The actions taken by the Government in response to potential privacy and contracting risks posed by the USA Patriot Act include: a review by Government departments of their outsourcing arrangements to determine if action is needed; continuing the review of federal privacy laws and policies; and cooperating with the OPC on the planned audit in 2004-2005 of the transfer of personal information between Canada and the United States".