Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault says destroying records could contravene 'spirit and letter' of Access to Information law and Library and Archives Canada Act. Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says it could also violate the Privacy Act
PARLIAMENT HILL—Two of the most powerful officers of Parliament raised new questions Tuesday about aspects of a controversial bill the majority Conservative government is steamrolling through the Commons to dismantle the federal long-gun registry and destroy its entire database of records.
Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault warned MPs on the Public Safety Committee the legislation, Bill C-19, ignores “the spirit and the letter” of access to information law and the Library and Archives Canada Act.
And, in the furor over the government’s plan to destroy a range of information on seven million rifles and shotguns, and over the province of Quebec’s objections, which wants to use the records from within its borders to establish its own version of a long-gun registry, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart raised concerns that the government may destroy the records before a two-year period the Privacy Act normally requires for the maintenance of all personal information.
In the meantime, as a result of inquiries made earlier to the RCMP, which maintains the main registry as well as separate police computer systems on which some or all of it is also accessible, The Hill Times has learned the national police force, whose previous senior commanders have supported the registry as a public-safety tool, has the technical ability to destroy the main registry database as well as records of the force’s other ‘holdings’ where the information also exists.
“Non-restricted registration records are currently retained in the Canadian Firearms Information System (CFIS) and in other RCMP holdings,” RCMP Sgt. Julie Gagnon said in an email to The Hill Times last Friday during an inquiry into the implications of the legislation.
“It would be possible to destroy the records,” she said.
The question of whether the registry and its related records could be destroyed—and how much it will cost—has been an unanswered question since the government tabled the bill in the Commons this fall.
The question came up in the committee on Tuesday, and even Ms. Legault, whose office and branches routinely investigate complaints over access to information in vast government databanks, could not answer it.
“How difficult would it be to destroy all of the data, would we have to destroy the backup data also?” NDP MP Jasbir Sandhu (Surrey North, B.C.) asked Ms. Legault.
“I really don’t know what the registry is like and how it’s set up,” Ms. Legault replied.
But Ms. Legault told the committee she believes the bill—which contains a unique clause that would override key sections of protection in the Privacy Act as well as the Library and Archives Canada Act—violates the intent of information protection laws in Canada.
“I have serious concerns about the impact this bill will have on government information management, and specifically, about section 29 of the transitional provisions, which dispenses the archivists role in management of the federal records in question, and Canadians’ right to access those records,” Ms. Legault said.
Ms. Stoddart told the committee that while the government has an obligation to destroy personal information contained in the registry, such as gun owners’ names and addresses, the bill appears aimed at overriding those protections as well.
Bill C-19 says a section of the Privacy Act that requires the government to maintain personal information for a limited period of time so that “the individual to whom it relates has a reasonable opportunity to gain access to the information” and another section allowing the government to destroy information only if it is in accordance with existing time periods do not apply.
Ms. Stoddart told the committee Privacy Act regulations currently require the information to be kept for two years, but the bill’s wording suggests the government might want to destroy the records as soon as possible.
“There may be some situations where certain information that might still be relevant, for example in a possible court action, is destroyed,” she told the MPs.
Opposition MPs said Conservative comments during the committee, and skeptical questions the Tories aimed at several witnesses who want the registry maintained to help combat spousal abuse and domestic violence, demonstrate how determined the government is to pass the bill as quickly as it can.
“They’re pushing through with their agenda, whether it’s Bill C-10, the omnibus bill or whether it’s the gun registry, and clearly they are not looking at the consequences of these changes they are making in a hurry,” Mr. Sandhu told The Hill Times. “They are not looking beyond today as to what impact it will have on our justice system.”
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.) said the Conservative plan to destroy the registry record will eliminate valuable historical records that some day could be a gold mine for social research into social problems and the use of guns in Canada.
“This business of destroying the record, it’s all politics, it’s all spin. It’s not about good public policy at all,” she told The Hill Times. “Were going to drive a stake through the heart. It’s like Dracula, it will rise from the grave, some future government will come along and try to make this thing come back, we’re going to kill it, kill it dead.”
Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia (Lac-Saint-Louis, Que.) said Ms. Stoddart’s comments about a court case, or even investigations leading to the case, were significant.
“That’s a very good technical question. Is there an ideal period of time where you would want to preserve the records, because they would remain useful for police investigation?” he said. “It deserves to be asked and I have a feeling the government isn’t going to be asking that question.”
Origin
Source: Hill Times
No comments:
Post a Comment