Federal (Canada) Privacy Decisions

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) investigated a complaint against CATSA concerning its practice of notifying police when cannabis was found in a traveller's possession. The OPC found that CATSA's collection and disclosure of personal information for this purpose contravened sections 4 and 8 of the Privacy Act, as its mandate is focused on aviation security, not general law enforcement. While CATSA agreed to cease collecting and disclosing such information when the cannabis possession is not clearly illegal, the record-keeping aspect of the complaint was found not well-founded.

• Whether CATSA's collection of personal information from travellers possessing cannabis was consistent with its mandate under the Privacy Act.
• Whether CATSA's disclosure of personal information to police regarding cannabis possession was consistent with the Privacy Act.
• Whether CATSA's record retention practices for this information complied with the Privacy Act.

Three individuals complained that the RCMP used non-conviction information in vulnerable sector (VS) checks without their informed consent. The OPC found that the RCMP contravened the Privacy Act in two of the three cases because the consent forms did not clearly explain what types of non-conviction information would be reported. The OPC also determined that the RCMP's policy of broadly reporting non-conviction information, including mental health incidents, was not proportional or minimally intrusive. The RCMP agreed to revise its consent forms and policies.

• Adequacy of informed consent for the use of non-conviction information in vulnerable sector checks.
• Proportionality and minimal intrusiveness of reporting non-conviction information, including mental health incidents, in vulnerable sector checks.
• Compliance with record retention requirements under the Privacy Act.
• Consistency of RCMP policies and practices across different provinces.

This report details a review of passport protection practices by four federal institutions: IRCC, ESDC, GAC, and CPC. While the institutions generally had reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized passport disclosures, the review identified areas for improvement in incident detection, remediation for affected individuals, and learning from past breaches. The institutions agreed to implement the OPC's recommendations to enhance these processes.

• Adequacy of measures to prevent unauthorized disclosure of passports
• Effectiveness of incident detection mechanisms
• Sufficiency of remediation measures for affected individuals
• Processes for learning from past passport breach incidents