Posted on 3-2-2003

Human Rights First Victim Of Terrorism
By George Radwanski, Privacy Commissioner of Canada (see photo)

It is my duty, in this Annual Report, to present a solemn and urgent
warning to every Member of Parliament and Senator, and indeed to every
Canadian:

The fundamental human right of privacy in Canada is under assault as never
before. Unless the Government of Canada is quickly dissuaded from its
present course by Parliamentary action and public insistence, we are on a
path that may well lead to the permanent loss not only of privacy rights
that we take for granted but also of important elements of freedom as we
now know it.

We face this risk because of the implications, both individual and
cumulative, of a series of initiatives that the Government has mounted or
is actively moving toward. These initiatives are set against the backdrop
of September 11, and anti-terrorism is their purported rationale. But the
aspects that present the greatest threat to privacy either have nothing at
all to do with anti-terrorism, or they present no credible promise of
effectively enhancing security.

The Government is, quite simply, using September 11 as an excuse for new
collections and uses of personal information about all of us Canadians that
cannot be justified by the requirements of anti-terrorism and that, indeed,
have no place in a free and democratic society.

Full text at www.privcom.gc.ca/information/ar/02_04_10_e.asp#overview