Privacy and Transparency in a Modern Government

Misinformation has been called a defining issue of our time, eroding trust in academia, science, and other key pillars of our society. Commissioner Kosseim speaks with Dr. Alex Himelfarb of the Council of Canadian Academies about what we can do about it, and why access to trustworthy, evidence-based information matters more than ever.

Commissioner Patricia Kosseim appeared on “Leadership in the Digital Enterprise” on April 6, 2023. The title of this episode was “A conversation with Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Patricia Kosseim.”

This fact sheet from the IPC discusses how ransomware has become an increasingly dangerous threat to the security of electronic records and provides guidance on how public institutions and healthcare organizations can protect themselves against it.

Data is the engine of the modern economy, a key driver of innovation and growth. While the power of data is undeniable, questions emerge about the impact of digital transformation on our human rights, our collective well-being, and the state of our democracy. Commissioner Kosseim speaks with Jim Balsillie, retired co-CEO of Research In Motion (BlackBerry) and founder of the...

With reference to Schedule 4 of Bill 27, the Working for Workers Act, 2021, this letter to Natalia Kusendova, Chair of the Standing Committee on Social Policy urges the Committee to amend Bill 27 to address an important issue about how one of its provisions approaches the collection and use of personal information. The IPC recognized that the amendment would enable effective...

This post is also available in: French

This post is also available in: French

Letter to The Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy

This post is also available in: French

This post is also available in: French

This post is also available in: French

This post is also available in: French

This post is also available in: French

This post is also available in: French

This post is also available in: French

This fact sheet provides guidance on how Ontario public institutions and health information custodians can securely destroy personal information when disposing of electronic media.

This post is also available in: French

The IPC strongly supports Open Government initiatives and encourages Ontario institutions to be more open and transparent, and to enhance their engagement with the public. This document offers guidance for institutions on how to move towards increased government transparency without negatively affecting individuals’ privacy.

Commissioner Brian Beamish submitted comments to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 59, Schedule 2 of Bill 59, Putting Consumers First Act, 2016.

The emergence of big data as a tool to manage and analyze large and complex data sets offers great promise and opportunity, but also raises serious privacy challenges and considerations, especially to personal privacy. Public and health sector institutions increasingly use big data tools to improve programs and public services and ensure they are supported by better...

This fact sheet highlights the important factors an institution must consider before implementing a video surveillance system.

This guidance is designed to help institutions implement better record and information management practices and enhance the public’s ability to access information.

This guidance document provides institutions with an overview of important factors to consider when implementing Open Government including the need for institutional leadership, commitment, governance and resources to support culture change and sustain the program over time, learning from others, engaging both internal and external users, and meeting legal...

This guidance paper is intended as a starting point for institutions considering Open Government and highlights two critical goals: enhancing access to government-held information and public participation.  It includes a discussion about making government-held information open by default and at little or no cost, and ways to enable a true two-way dialogue with the...

This document highlights the key issues to consider when de-identifying personal information in the form of structured data and it provides a step-by-step process that institutions can follow when removing personal information from data sets.

The IPC has prepared this new guidance document, Thinking About Clouds? Privacy, security and compliance considerations for Ontario public sector institutions, to help institutions evaluate whether cloud computing services are suitable for their information management needs. In particular, it seeks to raise awareness of the risks associated with using cloud computing...

This post is also available in: French

Municipalities are turning to the Internet as a means of making information public in an effort to improve accessibility, transparency and accountability. This may include publishing records directly to their website or including records in searchable databases that can be accessed online. Publishing materials online is an effective means of ensuring that the public has...

Information is becoming far more valuable as businesses seek to learn more about their customers and those of their competitors, and as advertisers seek to gain a competitive advantage by finding new and innovative ways to use information to target advertisements that are most relevant to their consumers.