Privacy concerns remain as feds, police chief talk up new digital evidence bill
· Toronto Sun
The federal government’s latest attempt to reform digital evidence laws is getting plaudits from police, but privacy advocates remain concerned.
Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw and federal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree talked up the pending legislation during a Thursday afternoon news conference at Toronto Police headquarters on College St.
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“In many ways, new technology and new ways of communicating have made lives easier, but they’ve also made it easier for criminals to plan their activities and avoid justice,” Demkiw told reporters.
“We are seeing bad actors use digital tools for all kinds of crime, including drug trafficking, extortion, child pornography, hate crime, extremism and more.”
As the digital landscape evolves, he said, so must the tools used by law enforcement to keep up.
New bill latest attempt to reform evidence laws
Bill C-22 , also known as the Lawful Access Act , was tabled and passed first reading in the House of Commons a week ago — the government’s latest attempt to introduce sweeping changes to combatting digital and online crime.
The bill is expected to move to second reading and eventually the committee stage in the coming weeks.
The latest in the Mark Carney Liberals’ attempts to modernize Canadian policing and criminal investigations, the bill is meant to streamline rules concerning digital and online criminal investigations.
Bill C-2, the Strong Borders Act, contained provisions broadening digital access for police, but the government faced backlash from privacy groups.
Part 15 of C-2 was supposed to establish a new law that the government claims would give service providers the ability to share information with law enforcement.
Bill C-2 has continued to languish in second reading since June 5, 2025, with the last debate on the bill taking place in September.
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Privacy groups concerned
Minister Anandasangaree said the bill fulfils long-standing asks by law enforcement and police unions.
“Over the last three decades, law enforcement has been hamstrung in their ability to investigate,” he said.
“This is no longer a time when we’re carrying pagers or antiquated cellphones … every technology out there has significant abilities, not just to communicate but to also to deter those who use crime as a tool to be able to conceal information that would be critically important for law enforcement.”
While police praised the changes, privacy proponents said the new rules go too far.
In a news release, the Canadian Internet Society praised the government for toning down this iteration of the bill, but called the act a “double-edged sword” for the privacy and security of Canadians.
“ The Canadian Internet Society commends the government of Canada for listening to the concerns raised by stakeholders and implementing them in Bill C-22, namely the removal of warrantless access to subscriber information previously proposed in Bill C-2,” said a statement.
“However, Part II of the legislation raises significant privacy concerns due to its potential to usurp a free and open Canadian internet for the purposes of surveillance. Electronic service providers should not be forced by the government to build capabilities that compromise the privacy of Canadians.”