Bill C-22 is a Privacy Nightmare for Canadians
If you're not already aware, Mark Carney's Liberal government is using their questionable majority to try and ram Bill C-22 through the House of Commons after a previously failed attempt in 2025.
Put simply, there is only one way to interpret this particular piece of legislation: it will kill any and all digital privacy rights for all Canadians. Bill C-22 would force companies like Apple (which to their credit, has re-iterated they will never do) and Google and encrypted chat apps like Signal to give the government a set of keys - a backdoor, if you will - that would allow them to bypass end-to-end encryption, capturing highly detailed metadata in transit. While the metadata itself does not contain the specific text/images/videos shared, it does include who you talk to, when you talk with them, and where you are physically located when doing so. Worse, the data has to be stored for up to one year.
While the Liberals frame this bill as a necessary tool to modernize policing and catch up with our Five Eyes intelligence partners, the immense structural changes to digital surveillance will heavily impact the way grassroots activism, unionization efforts, and protest planning operate, often times done quietly and online to avoid retaliatory action. When people believe their associations, locations, and networks are being logged (again, for up to a year), this creates a chilling effect wherein they are likely more hesitant to participate in public dissent, agitation, or advocacy, which then becomes a distinct barrier to a truly participatory and democratic system. And given Prime Minister Carney's Elbows Down approach with the US currently, more than likely this logged data will be shared with hostile foreign governments (such as the United States) if requested - something we're already seeing happen.
Beyond the obvious implications of massive government overreach, the bad outcomes that this would create will be the gift that keeps on giving as it leaves all Canadians vulnerable to cyberattacks and privacy breaches if any criminal or hostile country is able to get their hands on the "second set of keys." Case in point, in 2014, the EU Court of Justice struck down similar laws at the same time Apple was fighting a very public battle with the FBI over their insistence that they be given backdoor access to iOS to investigate a terror attack – a battle that Apple decisively won both in the courtroom and the court of public opinion.
A common counter-argument you may hear to the above is that privacy isn't needed so long as you have nothing to hide. This is rooted in a fundamental, and frankly dangerous, misunderstanding of the difference between privacy and secrecy. In the real world, we seek privacy all the time. We all know what happens when we use the bathroom, yet we still choose to close the door. That's not because we have something nefarious to hide, but rather, we'd like a moment of privacy to do our business in peace and quiet. In our digital lives, specifically with regards to encrypted messaging, privacy is the assurance that your data is only viewed and/or handled by the parties you specifically intended to view/have access to it and no one else. By reducing the threshold for online privacy, it effectively invites the government to stand over all our shoulders and pry into our most private, intimate conversations. I'm not sure about you, but that creeps me the fuck out.
The adverse effect of conflating privacy with secrecy is that it views those who demand privacy as de-facto criminals. As Jeanette Patell, the director of Google’s government affairs in Canada, said, "Bill C-22 would treat all Canadians like potential suspects," and, "At a time when cyber threats are increasing in frequency and sophistication, and malicious actors are using AI tools to find and exploit vulnerabilities more quickly, we cannot afford to be creating new vulnerabilities.”
The need for privacy is legitimate, and it's not about hiding secrets, but rather empowering your rights over your own information without interference. Bill C-22 is a massive overreach by our government, and is absolutely a road we do not want to go down. If you're just as incensed about this proposed Bill, then please take the time to sign the NDP-sponsored petition and write to your MP and push them to vote NO when it finally comes time. There is simply too much at stake to let this pass without a meaningful fight.
