Nat’l security committee recommends status quo for lawful access

OTTAWA — Members of a House of Commons committee studying Canada’s national security framework said they weren’t compelled to increase the ability of law enforcement to obtain subscriber data following their review, instead recommending the status quo. In the report tabled Tuesday in Parliament, the public safety and national security committee recommended as one of its 41 suggestions to government that “at this time, and following the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R. v. Spencer, no changes to the lawful access regime for subscriber information and encrypted information be made,” but that the committee “continue to study such rapidly evolving technological issues related to cyber security.” The committee did hear from witnesses who advocated for an expansion of the rules, Liberal MP Pam Damoff said during a Tuesday morning press conference. “We did hear from the police chiefs advocating for further powers, but we also heard from witnesses who referenced the Spencer decision and said that they already have the power to do that, they just have to get a warrant,” Damoff said. “And so we’re saying it’s important that they do get that warrant and we’re not recommending that the power be expanded.” Committee chair, Liberal MP Rob Oliphant, said their argument is that there is “sufficient power within the current law,” but that the committee is open to examining the issue further. “The argument was made. It wasn’t yet compelling, but we’re also open to the fact that we learn everyday so we do need to study that more,” Oliphant said. Overall, the majority opinion of the committee (the Conservative committee members issued a dissenting report) was there had to be a balance between protection and personal rights, members said. “This report clearly notes that there need be no trade-off between national security and the rights of Canadians,” Oliphant said. “They both may be fully realized, and in fact, can only be fully realized if they are both fully respected.” The committee’s work was completed in concert with the national security review conducted by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale. Asked Tuesday by reporters about the committee’s report, Goodale said he would “look very carefully” at the group’s recommendations and add them to the “tremendous amount of material” collected during his review’s public consultation. “We’re in the process of putting together all of the options to make sure that we deliver to Canadians exactly what we undertook to do in our platform in 2015,” Goodale said, according to a transcript. “I’m hopeful that I will be able to a specific proposal in the public domain by this summer.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Nat’l security committee recommends status quo for lawful access

News | May 2, 2017

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Nat’l security committee recommends status quo for lawful access

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