Commissioner’s Blog

In case you haven’t heard, the IPC has launched a new podcast! It’s called Info Matters, and it’s about people, privacy, and access to information. Through this new communication channel, I’ll be talking with people from all walks of life, hearing interesting stories, providing concrete f...

Today, I had the pleasure of presenting at the annual PHIPA Connections Summit. This year, the summit presenters explored emerging issues related to personal health information management in a pandemic. In my presentation, I shared some health sector statistics from 2020, touched on the recent ch...

This past Thursday marked my first Privacy Day as Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner. Seven months ago, as a newly minted Commissioner, I hit the ground running, working from home in the middle of a pandemic, faced with a number of complex privacy issues that required my prompt atte...

This certainly wasn’t the year we expected it to be. In 2020, COVID-19 profoundly changed how we work and how we live our day-to-day lives. With science rapidly evolving, infection rates fluctuating, and advisories constantly changing, the pandemic has thrown us many curveballs this past year. ...

The shift towards increased digitization since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is having a profound impact on how Ontarians interact with their governments. It is also changing how public institutions deliver services, either alone or with third-party service providers. This rapid uptake of di...

Even before joining the IPC, I always admired Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) for its “gutsiness.”  PHIPA introduced many novel concepts for its time. These include the first breach notification requirement in the country; a comprehensive code for consent and s...

The digital revolution has brought with it a crushing wave of new access and privacy challenges. By trying to address them all with the limited resources available, we may end up just treading water without really getting anywhere. To achieve real positive change, we need to keep our eyes on the ...

October is Child Abuse Prevention Month in Ontario, and on Tuesday, October 27, I will be wearing purple to show my support for Dress Purple Day. This day raises awareness of the vital role that individuals and communities play in supporting vulnerable children, youth, and families.  Protecting ...

News of cyberattacks continues to dominate headlines across the country. From individual instances of identity theft to large-scale ransomware attacks involving millions of people, these malicious assaults on our personal data systems show no sign of abating. As their tactics become more sophisti...

This is my first Right to Know Week as Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner. I am excited to join my fellow commissioners from across the country in raising awareness about access rights and freedom of information from September 28 to October 4. Freedom of information is essential to ...