Bill C-30 creates no new
powers to access.
By Bic Toews,*
I’ve
spent the better part of my career advocating for the safety and security
of Canadians. As a prosecutor, child protection lawyer, federal and
provincial Attorney General, and in my current job as Canada’s Minister
of Public Safety, I've always made it my goal to put victims first.
Over
the years, it became clear to me that Canada’s laws were falling far
behind the technology used by criminals. The frustration of police
was plainly evident.
After
I entered politics, I heard the same story from law enforcement so many
times that I began to wonder if the problem would ever be fixed.
Soon after my appointment as federal Justice Minister in 2006, I was
introduced to the concept of “lawful access,” which dealt with the
challenge of fighting online crime. I was struck by the reality that
our approach to the internet had been shaped in the era of the rotary
phone.
This
was by no means a new concept. My
Liberal predecessor, Anne McLellan, made the first attempt at a new law in
2005. Marlene Jennings tried again twice in the form of private
members' bills in 2007 and 2009. The government introduced similar
bills twice more: once under Peter Van Loan in 2009 and once by me in
2010.
Despite
the tireless efforts of people like Paul Gillespie, formerly of the
Toronto Police Service and now the head of the Kids Internet Safety
Alliance (KINSA), and Roz Prober of Beyond Borders, none of these attempts
became law.
Gillespie
speaks with passion about the emotional toll child exploitation
investigations take on frontline officers.
Each day, they are confronted by the bleak reality that tens of
thousands of children are sexually abused in graphic, unimaginable ways. The
reality is that police simply don't have the tools to effectively fight
these crimes. This is true not only of child pornography but
identity theft, online organized crime, and many internet scams and
frauds.
More
than a decade ago, police signalled they lacked the tools to keep up with
changing technology. The process of gathering information for
investigations was extremely slow and cumbersome. Today, police are
in exactly the same predicament.
In
just one wrenching example reported in the Kingston Whig Standard by the
Kingston Police, Detective Constable Stephanie Morgan received information
via the internet that an individual might attempt suicide.
When she approached an ISP for help in locating the individual, she
ran into a brick wall. Morgan said that the Internet service provider
refused to give up that information because of the person's privacy.
"To this day, I don't know who that person was who sent the message.
I don't know if they really were in distress or if they later committed
suicide. I think that would not have happened if this legislation
was in place."
Scott
Naylor, an Inspector with the Ontario Provincial Police Child Sexual
Exploitation Unit recently said, “Obtaining warrants on all IP addresses
involved in child pornography simply wasn't practical. It's still like
putting a cup under Niagara Falls, that's all we're catching.”
On
February 14, our Government re-introduced legislation that closely
resembles the efforts of McLellan and Jennings, but with improvements to
better protect the privacy of Canadians. C-30 allows police to request
basic customer information to assist with investigations, but makes police
more accountable through audits and obligations to report to federal and
provincial privacy commissioners. We also reduced the number of
basic subscriber information points that police could request of service
providers –the modern equivalent of phonebook information—
from
11 down to six.
Let
me be clear: Bill C-30 creates no new powers to access the content of
e-mails, web-browsing history or phone calls beyond that which already
exists in Canadian law.
Some
have accused me of not reading a bill I’ve been involved in shaping for
over half a decade. Ironically, when I read most media coverage of
C-30, I am struck by just how poorly the bill is understood by many
writers.
The
government intends to send this legislation directly to Committee for a
full examination of potential amendments to update our laws
while ensuring the privacy of Canadians is respected.
I
hope that all Canadians, and especially Members of Parliament and the
media, will read, discuss, and reflect on this Bill.
“
Vic Toews, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
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