Ottawa: USA Patriot Act Considered a threat to Canadians

The USA Patriot Act which severely takes away US Citizens' civil liberties in the name of security is coming under scrutiny in Canada. There is a worry about how much the Patriot Act can take away Canadians' privacy. Canadians have a natural worry about anything that would take away their rights to privacy and this is reflected in Canada's Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. A new report has come out lead by her which calls for amendmants to the Canadian Privacy Act to better guard Canadians. The report even directly takes aim and states "The USA PATRIOT Act has become the symbol of the increasing concern of Canadians about the security of their personal information when it leaves Canada."[1]

This comes in a month where Quebec has introduced new legislation for the protection of Quebeckers privacy. Quebec however, is only following similar legislation to that introduced in British Columbia, Alberta and, Nova Scotia already. The legislation would limit the ability of companies from passing on information about citizens of those provinces. Companies passing on information to the US government has become famous due to a domestic spying program where companies such as AT&T and, Verizon which passed on telephone information to the NSA.