The Quebec Commission on Access to Information ('CAI') announced, on 28 October 2021, that as a result of a decision rendered last June, the CAI assessed a company's file and concluded that the collection of personal information using a thermal camera and a facial recognition tool in the context of the pandemic goes against the Act Respecting the Protection of Personal Information in the Private Sector, CQLR c P-39.1. In particular, CAI recognised that as an employer, a company has obligations regarding the health and safety of its employees and, consequently, has a real interest in putting in place specific measures to prevent an outbreak of COVID-19. However, the CAI highlighted that collecting body temperature is neither a legal requirement nor a recommendation from bodies responsible for public health or safety at work.

Moreover, the CAI outlined that it is not legitimate to establish a file on each employee in order to keep health information, such as the fluctuation of his/her temperature during his/her working hours. Furthermore, the CAI noted that this collection is disproportionate, as is the collection of biometric information that enables facial recognition to be used to identify employees and associate the temperature with their file.

Additionally, the CAI ordered one company to cease:

• compiling a file containing the fluctuation in the body temperature of each of its employees;
• collecting biometric information allowing facial recognition; and
• collecting the body temperature of its employees through a biometric system using facial recognition.

Lastly, the CAI ordered the destruction of the biometric templates made up from the images of the faces, as well as the body temperature data kept in relation to the employees.

You can read the press release here and the decision here, both only available in French.