How does Canada protect your privacy?

When you employ a financial advisor, he’s expected to keep your personal details, including investments and finances, private.

This is because Canada has two federal privacy laws:

>The Privacy Act, enacted in 1983 >The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), enacted in 2000

The commission regulates companies that collect data for commercial purposes.

The Privacy Act ensures 250 federal departments and agencies respect Canadians’ privacy rights by limiting collection, use and disclosure of data. It also lets people access and correct their information.

Any organization that collects personal information in the course of commercial activity is covered by PIPEDA.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada doesn’t have much power over Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia since these provinces have developed independent provincial legislation to govern organizations operating within each province. Their laws aim to better define digital property and prescribe how it must be handled.

Scott Hutchinson of the OPCC says, “These acts generally apply to organizations even where they are not involved in a commercial activity. As a result, the provincial entities overseeing those pieces of…legislation could have some latitude in addressing the personal information practices of non-governmental regulatory bodies operating within their [jurisdiction].”

In other words, the Alberta Securities Commission, British Columbia Securities Commission and Autorité des Marchés Financiers could fall under the jurisdiction of their respective provincial privacy laws.