{"id":582308,"date":"2026-04-04T19:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/582308\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T19:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:25:11","slug":"ottawa-launches-review-of-privacy-act-to-modernize-data-protections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/582308\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa launches review of Privacy Act to modernize data protections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The federal government has launched a review of the <a href=\"https:\/\/laws-lois.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/acts\/P-21\/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Privacy Act<\/a>, aiming to modernize how personal information is handled across more than 250 federal institutions.<\/p>\n<p>Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali announced the review Thursday, saying the process will examine how government agencies collect, use, disclose and protect Canadians\u2019 personal data.<\/p>\n<p>First major update to Privacy Act in decades<\/p>\n<p>The act, which has not seen major updates since it was introduced in 1983, sets the rules for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/treasury-board-secretariat\/services\/access-information-privacy\/modernizing-access-information.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">how federal institutions manage personal information.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ali said updating the legislation is key to maintaining public trust as government services become increasingly digital.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSafeguarding the personal information of Canadians is essential to maintaining public trust,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cUpdating the Privacy Act will reinforce privacy protections and help ensure government institutions operate in a transparent and accountable manner in the digital age.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Plans to expand secure data sharing across departments<\/p>\n<p>Proposed changes include recognizing privacy as a fundamental right and aligning the law with international standards. The government is also considering measures to allow secure data sharing between departments when it benefits individuals or improves public services.<\/p>\n<p>Officials say the review will also look at reducing duplication by establishing designated sources for key data and improving accuracy across programs.<\/p>\n<p>A policy paper outlining the proposed changes has been released, with public feedback open until July 10. The government also plans to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gc.ca\/eng\/csj-sjc\/pa-lprp\/dp-dd\/index.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> hold consultations <\/a>with federal institutions and experts in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>A final report summarizing the findings is expected to be published in the winter of 2026\u201327.<\/p>\n<p>The Privacy Act governs the public sector and is separate from federal private-sector privacy legislation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal government has launched a review of the Privacy Act, aiming to modernize how personal information is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-582308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}