Privacy is an important value in Canadian society. Of course, in the residential tenancy context there are privacy provisions contained in the Residential Tenancies Act. In yesterday’s post I reviewed a decision of the Landlord and Tenant Board that addressed whether the landlord had a right to photograph a tenant’s unit for damage. However, privacy rights may arise from other statutes, as well. What might be permitted by one statute may be limited by other statutory provisions.
In response to the concern for privacy in our society, the Canadian Government enacted the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). PIPEDA creates an enforceable right of privacy for individuals with respect to the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information by the private sector. Under PIPEDA, “personal information” means “information about an identifiable individual...”. This is quite wide as we will see.
Posts
