Bill C-22 (Lawful Access Act) passes House of Commons, moves to Senate

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Canada’s Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act, has cleared the House of Commons and is now before the Senate. The bill would give the Minister of Public Safety authority to compel digital service providers to create backdoors and to retain metadata for up to a year. Critics say it expands surveillance, weakens encryption, and could increase cross‑border data sharing with the United States.

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• Its status is passed one chamber. It is not law yet. Track it, but do not treat it as an obligation.
• The bill threatens privacy and security by expanding government surveillance powers and mandating data retention.

Who is affected

Recommended actions

1. Check that privacy notices describe the practices this addresses.
2. Revisit retention schedules and data minimisation for the data involved.
3. Review the transfer mechanisms relied on for affected data flows.
4. Map the security requirements to existing controls and close gaps.