On May 9, 2024, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) announced that the Commissioner of the OPC, Philippe Dufresne, appeared before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics to discuss the 2024-2025 main estimates. The Commissioner discussed the strategic plan that lays out three key priorities that will guide the work of the OPC through 2027 and shared highlights of the OPC's work to promote and protect privacy rights.

What are the three key priorities of the OPC?

The priorities are:

• protecting and promoting privacy with maximum impact by using business intelligence to identify trends that need attention, producing focused guidance and outreach, leveraging strategic partnerships, and preparing for the implementation of potential new privacy legislation;
• addressing and advocating for privacy in this time of technological change with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI, the proliferation of which brings both potential benefits and increased risks to privacy; and
• championing children's privacy rights to ensure that their unique privacy needs are met and that they can exercise their rights.

What are the investigations undertaken by the OPC?

The Commissioner noted that the OPC will share the findings of two investigations against TikTok Inc., and OpenAI Inc in the coming months. The Commissioner stated that the findings are closely tied to the two strategic priorities, protecting children's privacy and addressing the privacy impacts of AI.

You can read the press release here and the Commissioner's remarks here.