Minister Bains' mandate letter hints at 'enhanced powers for the privacy commissioner'
Trudeau government set to introduce privacy bill aimed at protecting Canadians
Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Category Archives: Cyber Security, Quantum, Hacks, Fraud Alerts, Risks, InsurTech
Bill to overhaul Canada’s privacy laws coming soon
CBC | | Nov 16, 2020
Minister Bains' mandate letter hints at 'enhanced powers for the privacy commissioner'
As the number of high-profile online consumer security breaches continues to grow, the federal government is expected to introduce a bill soon to shake up Canada's privacy laws — possibly as early as this week.
Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains signalled plans to introduce the legislation late last week on the House of Commons notice paper.
The bill — officially called "An Act to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act and the Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act and to make consequential and related amendments to other Acts" — would be the first major attempt to change Canada's privacy law in decades.
See: Cadillac Fairview broke privacy laws by using facial recognition technology at malls, investigators conclude
Details of the bill won't be available until the legislation is tabled, but a spokesperson for Bains pointed to the promises outlined in the minister's mandate letter.
That letter — essentially the minister's marching orders from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — tasked him with drafting a "digital charter" that would include legislation to give Canadians "appropriate compensation" when their personal data is breached.
It also promised to introduce new regulations for large digital companies to better protect Canadians' personal data and encourage more competition in the digital marketplace, and to appoint a new data commissioner to oversee those regulations.
"It will be significant and meaningful to make it very clear that privacy is important. Compensation, of course, is one aspect of it," Bains said back in January, adding that the government also wants "to demonstrate to businesses very clearly that there are going to be significant penalties for non-compliance with the law. That's really my primary goal."
The letter also calls for "enhanced powers for the Privacy Commissioner." The office of Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien — who has been calling for more powers — said he will be briefed on the bill after it's tabled.
See: Capital One data breach shows why it shouldn’t be a tech company that does banking
"Our office has long been calling for federal privacy laws better suited to protecting Canadians in the digital age," said Therrien's spokesperson Vito Pilieci.
"We need a legal framework that allows for responsible innovation that serves the public interest and is likely to foster trust, but prohibits the use of technology in ways that are incompatible with our rights and values. The law should also provide for enforcement mechanisms that ensure individuals have access to quick and effective remedies for the protection of their privacy rights, and create incentives for broad compliance by organizations."
The 'right to be forgotten'
Earlier this month, a joint investigation by the federal, Alberta and B.C. privacy commissioners concluded that the real estate company behind some of Canada's most popular shopping centres embedded cameras inside its digital information kiosks at 12 shopping malls in major Canadian cities to collect millions of images — and used facial recognition technology without customers' knowledge or consent.
B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael McEvoy said the commissioners likely would have pursued fines against the company, Cadallic Fairview, if they'd had the power.
"Fines in a case like this would have been a consideration. It is an incredible shortcoming of Canadian law," he said.
"We as privacy regulators don't have any authority to levy fines on companies that violate peoples' personal information and that should really change."
See: FFCON Week 5 Wrap-up: Digital Identity & Convergence Marketplaces
Statistics Canada says that about 57 per cent of Canadians online reported experiencing a cyber security incident in 2018.
Bains's mandate letter also hints at the introduction of a so-called "right to be forgotten" or "right to erasure" law by calling for the "ability to withdraw, remove and erase basic personal data from a platform."
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Trudeau government set to introduce privacy bill aimed at protecting Canadians
The Trudeau government is poised to introduce legislation aimed at better safeguarding the privacy of Canadians in the digital era.
The bill, to be tabled as early as this week, would be a step toward realizing commitments set out in the mandate letter of Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains.
It would also flesh out the 10 principles — from control over data to meaningful penalties for misuse of information — that make up the federal digital charter.
See:
Digital IDs Help Open Banking Reach Its Fullest Potential
Smart Cities Offer Promises and Concerns Over Privacy
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has asked Bains to work with other ministers to advance the digital charter and beef up the privacy commissioner’s powers with the overall goal of establishing a new set of online rights.
They are to include:
- the ability to withdraw, remove and erase basic personal data from a platform, such as Facebook or Twitter;
- knowledge of how personal data is being used, including through a national advertising registry;
- the ability to review and challenge the amount of personal data that a company or government has collected;
- a means of informing people when personal data is breached, with appropriate compensation;
- and the ability to be free from online discrimination including bias and harassment.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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CRA goes after client details of major Canadian cryptocurrency marketplace in battle against ‘underground economy’
National Post | Christopher Nardi | Nov 6, 2020
The Canada Revenue Agency wants to know the identity of every client of a major Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform as part of its effort to fight tax fraud and the underground economy.
In a September filing to the federal court, Canada’s tax agency is asking a judge to force Toronto-based crypto trading platform Coinsquare to hand over information and certain documents about all its clients since the beginning of 2013.
In its filing — the first of its kind involving a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange — the CRA says it needs all the information to ensure that Coinsquare’s customers have “complied with their duties and obligations” under Canadian tax laws.
See: CEX.IO’s Executive Director Predicts the Future of Crypto Exchanges
In other words, CRA wants to make sure that the firm’s clients have declared all their income, paid their fair share of taxes and haven’t used cryptocurrencies to hide assets.
The details contained in the few documents available from the federal court are scarce, but all this likely means that CRA wants to know which Canadians have been trading on Coinsquare’s platform, and then compare it to their past tax filings.
If a Canadian trader on Coinsquare has not declared any cryptocurrency revenue or trading to CRA, then the agency may decide to further audit that person or organization, said David Piccolo, a tax lawyer at Tax Chambers.
“CRA could use this information to essentially try to verify or to match certain transactions with what was reported” in Canadians’ tax filings, Piccolo said in an interview.
Because the case is in front of the federal court, CRA spokesperson Charles Drouin refused to comment on the Coinsquare request specifically.
See: Expert Tips and Strategies for Crypto Trading
The agency also refused to say if the decision to seek Coinsquare’s client list has anything to do with significant penalties imposed by the Ontario Securities Commission on the company and several of its executives earlier this year. The provincial regulator imposed $2.2 million in sanctions and costs against the firm for having significantly faked its trading volume, then tried to cover it up all the while firing a whistleblower that flagged the issue internally.
But as a general comment, Drouin says the CRA considers that there is a “high” risk of tax fraud, evasion or any other type of tax crime within cryptocurrency trading.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Canada crawling toward AI regulatory regime
EP&T | Christopher Reynolds | Nov 4, 2020
Last week, privacy watchdogs revealed that five million images of shoppers’ faces were collected without their consent at a dozen of Canada’s most popular malls.
Real estate company Cadillac Fairview embedded cameras equipped with facial-recognition technology, which draws on machine-learning algorithms, in digital information kiosks to discern customers’ ages and genders, according to an investigation by the federal, Alberta and B.C. privacy commissioners.
See: Cadillac Fairview broke privacy laws by using facial recognition technology at malls, investigators conclude
But the commissioners had no authority to levy fines against the firm, or any companies that violate Canadians’ personal information, an “incredible shortcoming of Canadian law that should really change,” B.C. information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy said in an email.
Despite its status as an artificial-intelligence hub, Canada has yet to develop a regulatory regime to deal with problems of privacy, discrimination and accountability to which AI systems are prone, prompting renewed calls for regulation from experts and businesses.
“We are now being required to expect systematic monitoring and surveillance in the way that we walk down the road, drive in our cars, chat with our friends online in small social-media bubbles. And it changes the way that public life occurs, to subject that free activity to systematic monitoring,” said Kate Robertson, a Toronto-based criminal and constitutional lawyer.
See: Biometric payment, access and ID cards launching around the world
At least 10 Canadian police agencies, including the RCMP and Calgary and Toronto police services, have used Clearview AI, a facial-recognition company that has scraped more than three billion images from the Internet for use in law enforcement investigations, according to a report co-written by Robertson.
Other Ontario police forces also may be “unlawfully intercepting” private conversations in online chat rooms via “algorithmic social-media surveillance technology,” according to the September report from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and International Human Rights Program.
“We have seen the lack of clear limits and focused regulation leaving an overly broad level of discretion in both the public and police sectors that is a call to action for governments across the country,” Robertson said in a phone interview.
Canada needs to roll out concrete rules that balance privacy and innovation, said Carolina Bessega, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Montreal startup Stradigi AI. Public trust in artificial intelligence becomes increasingly crucial as machine-learning companies move from the conceptual to the commercial stage, she said.
See: Convenience vs Privacy: Here are 4 tips to protect your data from being shared on Facebook
The regulatory vacuum also discourages businesses from deploying AI, holding back innovation and efficiency _ particularly in hospitals and clinics, where the implications can be life or death.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Top five use cases for blockchain in fintech
ITProPortal | Malcom Ridgers | Nov 5, 2020
Blockchain is guaranteed to change the way we operate. Since blockchain is a decentralized ledger with strong focus on cryptography, security, and privacy, it’s ideal for banking applications and fintech.
Most banks are now using blockchain technology to create more efficient ways to record data. In 2020, the market share of blockchain in banking was 29.7 percent. Since blockchain allows you to update data in real-time, it’s a more cost-effective method to record transactions without intervention.
See: Blockchain: legal and regulatory guidance report
1. Digital identity
Banks have to ensure that the transactions they are carrying out are secure and validated. Most banks have their own security algorithms to confirm user identity. But for customers, they often are a huge hassle as they have to go through multiple security checks for simple tasks like checking their balance, transaction history, etc.
Banks sometimes also perform KYC (Know Your Customers) tools that further annoy customers. If you have accounts in different banks, going through different security protocols can be confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating.
To counter this, you can use blockchain. With it, you can create your digital persona instead of relying on the one made by banks. You can also reuse your persona for identification at different institutes and locations, which will allow you to save time and effort.
See: From Voting To Social Media: What Does The Future Hold For Digital Identity On The Blockchain
2. Trading
The trading system should ensure that all participants have correct entries and that the users can perform changes securely at any time they want. Blockchain is designed to handle exactly this. It can improve the whole process by using a generalized ledger.
Since information is refreshed in real-time, the flow of information is fast, and it is easy to make business decisions and policies based on that. Such a system also improves the whole lifecycle of the trade by reducing shorting risks and improving accountability.
3. Payments across the world
Blockchain supports decentralized currency, which means that you don't have to go through banks for your payments or transfers. It can also help in faster and easier payments since it costs less to transfer money from one account to another.
Since transfer through blockchain doesn’t require third party authorization, and banks don’t require resources to transfer funds, the payment processing fees are also less.
Blockchain will help to improve the flow of currency all around the world. Normally banks charge 10-15 percent of the amount transferred as a remittance fee. With blockchain, this comes down to 3 percent.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Hong Kong’s securities watchdog to regulate all crypto exchanges
International Investment | Pedro Gonçalves | Nov 4, 2020
Hong Kong will regulate all cryptocurrency trading platforms operating in the financial hub, the city's markets watchdog said, changing its previous "opt in" approach.
Ashley Alder, chief executive officer of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), said during the 2020 Hong Kong FinTech Week that the requirement will apply to all platforms even if they do not trade security tokens, according to Reuters.
See: Eight virtual banks transforming Hong Kong’s fintech sector
Consequently, the Hong Kong government will propose a new licensing regime today under its anti-money laundering legislation, requiring all cryptocurrency trading platforms that operate there, or target investors in the city, to apply for an SFC licence, Alder added.
"Simply speaking, we will require all virtual asset trading platforms to be operating transparently, like working under the sunlight," saidChristopher Hui Ching-yu, Hong Kong's secretary for financial services and the treasury, in a statement.
As a FATF member, Hong Kong is "under an obligation" to align with the AML standards for virtual asset service providers, she added.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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European Crowdfunding Network Publishes Blockchain Study Analyzing Current Regulatory Environment
Crowdfund Insider | JD Alois | Nov 2, 2020
Following a big win at the European Commission in regards to the harmonization of investment crowdfunding rules, the European Crowdfunding Network (ECN) has published a report analyzing European blockchain regulation.
Crafted in partnership with the law firm of Denton’s, the ECN report reviews the European legal framework, including standards, policies, and directives, governing or related to distributed ledger technology (DLT)/ Blockchain solutions and applications.
See: Blockchain: legal and regulatory guidance report
The report notes that currently there is no legal framework pertaining to interoperability between EU Member States. However, on April 10, 2018, some EU Member States agreed to create the European Blockchain Partnership (EBP) and to establish a European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) that seeks to support cross-border digital public services that incorporate high standards of security and privacy.
While the document states there are “no severe legislative gaps and regulatory needs within the existing legal framework of the EU regarding interoperability within the European Union, but given the expectation that DLT/Blockchain utilization will grow, there is a need for regulatory harmonization.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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John McAfee Pumps Crypto From Prison, Denies Tax Fraud and Murder Charges
Bitcoin.com | Kevin Helms | Oct 31, 2020
Former U.S. presidential candidate and antivirus software tycoon John McAfee is in Spanish prison awaiting his extradition trial after he was arrested in Spain.
McAfee has been tweeting regularly from prison. “You want to know what prison is like. It’s like a Motel 6 run by Hitler’s SS,” he tweeted, elaborating:
I am content in here. I have friends. The food is good. All is well. Know that if I hang myself, a la Epstein, it will be no fault of mine … Prison is an adventure to say the least.
See: Bitcoin’s “halvening” is upon us
The former presidential candidate insists that the U.S. government is after him for speaking the truth, particularly against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Regarding the $23 million dollar judgment against him, McAffee claimed: “It was a civil suit not a criminal issue. I never even responded to the suit. It was simply a default judgment.” He declared:
I am charged with tax fraud – which is lying on your tax return. I have filed no returns for many years and have made no secret of it. If I have said nothing how could I have lied. My real crime is speaking publicly about the insanity rampant within our system of government.
See: Expert Tips and Strategies for Crypto Trading
Although charged by the SEC for pumping tokens, McAfee is still pumping his ghost cryptocurrency. He confirmed from prison that Ghost is the only crypto project he is involved with at present. Recalling that he abandoned the project in August due to a fallout with the management, he clarified:
I have returned to controlling the Ghost development. My feud with management has ended. With the announcement that we will soon release a private stable coin, will mark a new era in transacting crypto business. Transaction fees will be shared amongst all Ghost holders.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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