Privacy Commissioner makes pitch for stronger powers during Senate committee appearance

Canada’s privacy commissioner is advocating for his office to have stronger powers as the Senate studies a bill looking to protect kids from pornographic content. Commissioner Philippe Dufresne appeared before the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs Wednesday, Oct. 2 to answer questions related to Bill S-209, an act to restrict young persons’ online access to pornographic material. The bill, which went through first reading in May, is a new iteration of bill S-210, which made it through several stages of review before it died when the federal election was called. As it stands, the bill would make it an offence for companies to make porn available to children and youth online, and would allow an enforcement body to take steps to prevent that from happening. Dufresne was asked to comment on the age verification demands of the bill and whether or not they could be practically implemented to block youth from accessing pornographic content without impacting people’s privacy, by way of how identifying information is collected, where it is stored, and for how long. Dufresne said to the Senate committee his office is developing guidance on how age-assurance mechanisms can be used in a “privacy-protective manner,” according to translation from French. "Should the bill be adopted, it will be important for my office to be involved in the review of regulation drafted by the government, and we will be ready to assist in any way so that we can ensure that privacy and the best interest of young persons are protected in the implementation stage of this bill,” he said. “The bill indicates that there will be a regulatory authority that will be designated. On the international level, it’s not necessarily privacy commissioners that are given that role, often they're digital authorities, but what I expect is that my office will be directly involved in this task.” “And it’s important that those two regulators work very closely, so that we’re not at cross-purposes,” he said. While Dufresne was against elements of an earlier iteration of the bill and made recommendations such as stronger criteria to make sure that Canadians will be asked to provide the least amount of personal information possible, he said Wednesday he was happy to see his suggestions incorporated in S-209. When asked by Conservative Senator Denise Batters whether legislators can have confidence Canadian law will provide necessary protections to Canadian youth even when companies do not have offices in Canada, Dufresne said that does not exempt them from complying with Canadian law. He also noted his appointment as chair of the Global Privacy Assembly, which he said makes it easier to work with his international counterparts to set priorities such as determining international best practices. That said, Dufresne added that the government needs to make sure that the remedies for lawbreaking are strong enough at home. “I have been consistently asking for an amendment and a modernization of privacy law, because one of the things I lack as a regulator is I don't have order-making powers, and I don't have the power to issue fines. So that is a gap, because those things do influence how CEOs and boards look at risk and look at prioritizing investments,” he said. “It's not that I want to be imposing those fines, but the mere possibility really focuses the minds of decision-makers. That's also why we need to have strong international collaboration in this space.” If Dufresne’s office is designated as a regulator under the bill, “it will have to come with the necessary resources,” he said in French. Even beyond this particular piece of legislation, Dufresne said he wants authority to carry out investigations in conjunction with other bodies like the Competition Bureau. He said that power would allow for better cooperation. There is at least power in numbers, Dufresne explained in French, given that some Canadian provinces have stronger powers than his office when it comes to penalties. He highlighted the investigation his office conducted into ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok alongside the provincial privacy watchdogs of Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta. “I have to use the legislation that I have, I'll use all the tools that I have. For example, we did the TikTok inquiry with Quebec, B.C., and Alberta, and it uses my powers and theirs. I did the investigation on 23andMe with the commissioner from B.C. He has the power to issue orders and fines,” he explained. “I had more power than them in terms of the investigation, in terms of obtaining documents. So we combine our strengths and then we have fewer weaknesses. At the end of that investigation, my colleague issued a fine to 23andMe which I couldn't do.” “And people said, ‘Well, how come Canada is not doing this?’ And I said, ‘Well, I don't have the authority to do so,’ so I think it's something that could easily be corrected by Parliament, and I hope that that will be done soon,” he said. news@thewirereport.ca

Privacy Commissioner makes pitch for stronger powers during Senate committee appearance

Regulatory |
By Wire Report Staff
|October 3, 2025

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Privacy Commissioner makes pitch for stronger powers during Senate committee appearance

Regulatory | By Wire Report Staff |October 3, 2025

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