Children and youth in a digital world
Original artwork by Aedán Crooke of Surface Impression, commissioned for the IPC’s Transparency Showcase.
IPC Goal: to champion the access and privacy rights of Ontario’s children and youth by promoting their digital literacy and the expansion of their digital rights while holding institutions accountable for protecting the children and youth they serve.
Digital Privacy Charter for Ontario Schools
On Digital Citizen Day, the IPC released the Digital Privacy Charter for Ontario Schools, inviting schools and school boards to pledge their commitment to protecting students’ personal information while also empowering students to make informed privacy choices. The charter consists of twelve high-level commitments reflecting a “smart mix” of existing legal obligations, best practices and common sense, for educators to earn the confidence of the students, parents, and communities they serve.
The commitments are intended to promote strong privacy protections in the digital education tools and services used by schools and support ongoing learning by empowering students to understand and exercise their privacy and access rights in an increasingly digital world. By signing on to the charter, school boards can show exemplary leadership. They can also demonstrate their level of preparedness to meet the anticipated requirements of EDSTA, which are designed to protect student privacy and regulate digital technologies used by school boards.
"Empowering children with the knowledge and skills they need to understand and navigate the online world helps them exercise their privacy rights and make informed, thoughtful decisions about what personal information they wish to share, and with whom. But we cannot download all responsibility on their small shoulders alone. It is incumbent on us, as governments, regulators, schools and educators, to protect them and their personal information online from the forces they cannot see or control.”
Advancing digital literacy: Ontario's new curriculum promotes privacy skills
For years, the IPC has advocated for stronger privacy education for children. In 2024, we were delighted to see Ontario launch its revised Elementary Language Curriculum (grades 1-8), which prominently features the promotion of privacy skills. The curriculum introduces a new focus on digital literacy, digital citizenship, and online safety. These learning objectives directly align with the IPC’s Privacy Pursuit! lesson plans for grades 2-8 we launched last year, as well as our Digital Privacy Charter for Ontario Schools. They are also entirely consistent with the Global Privacy Assembly’s Personal Data Competency Framework for Students, co-sponsored by the IPC back in 2016.
We were very pleased to see that MediaSmarts, Canada’s centre for digital media literacy, has integrated content from the IPC’s Privacy Pursuit! lesson plans into digital textbooks, released in early 2025, to support Ontario’s new curriculum. These digital textbooks will provide students with valuable, practical insights on privacy and online safety, helping them develop critical privacy skills to navigate the digital world confidently.
Building future privacy leaders: IPC Youth Advisory Council
This year, the IPC’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC) helped develop our first ever Youth Ambassador Program, aimed at empowering young people to champion online privacy awareness by spreading the word about digital literacy and privacy rights among their peers. The YAC provided advice on a Youth Ambassador Toolkit, including a slide deck, speaking notes, handouts, a presenter’s guide, a train-the-trainer tip sheet, as well as social media resources – everything young leaders need to be effective privacy ambassadors.
Throughout the year, the YAC provided the IPC with timely and valuable feedback on our public outreach efforts, including social media, to help improve our effectiveness and impact when communicating with this younger demographic. They also helped us update our frequently asked questions on children’s consent in the area of child and family services.
At the annual FPT meeting, hosted by the IPC this year, a panel of YAC members engaged directly with Canada’s information and privacy commissioners and ombuds to discuss the need to protect the rights of Canada’s children and youth in the digital age. Moderated by Jane Bailey, Professor at the University of Ottawa, the panel provided firsthand insights into the challenges faced by youth in a digitally networked environment. They emphasized the importance of policies and educational programs to equip young people with the knowledge and tools they need to fully and safely participate in the digital world.
Youth privacy: A global matter
At the Global Privacy Assembly in October, Commissioner Kosseim was invited to chair a panel on youth privacy, Education from the Ground Up: The Societal Impact of Privacy Education. The Commissioner led an engaging discussion on the role of privacy education in empowering children to navigate the digital world safely. The panel featured esteemed experts, including Baroness Beeban Kidron, Founder of 5Rights Foundation, who spoke about the importance of balancing protection with empowerment; Bertrand du Marais, Commissioner at France’s Commission Informatique & Libertés (CNIL), who provided insights on international commitments to privacy education; Amy Lam, Deputy Privacy Commissioner at Hong Kong’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD), who shared local efforts to advance digital education; and Matthew Johnson from MediaSmarts, Canada’s Centre for Digital Media Literacy, who highlighted Canadian research and the integration of digital literacy in the school curriculum.
Law reform for youth privacy
In May, the IPC made recommendations to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 188, the Supporting Children’s Futures Act. The proposed amendments to the Child, Youth and Family Services Act (CYFSA) were aimed at modernizing and standardizing important safeguards throughout the child and youth services sector.
The IPC’s submission urged that proposed exceptions to the existing statutory publication ban protecting the privacy interests of children and youth be set out in legislation rather than regulation, to ensure transparency and proper balancing of privacy interests of all affected individuals. We also questioned a new provision that would permit the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services to keep retaining personal information of individuals who are no longer in care, for purposes of research, compliance, planning and delivery of services. The IPC continued its call for the government to repeal the excessively broad personal information collection scheme under sections 283 and 284 of the CYFSA.