Data Privacy Day, celebrated each year on January 28, began as a day to commemorate the 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. Since that time, Data Privacy Day has now expanded to a week of initiatives creating awareness about the importance of privacy and the protection of personal information.
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) joins other information and privacy commissioners and privacy advocates across the country and around the world in celebrating Data Privacy Week from January 22-28, 2024.
Privacy has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada as a right of all Canadians under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In this Province, privacy is protected by law through the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 and the Personal Health Information Act.
In celebration of this week, we would like to highlight two joint resolutions our Office recently signed with our Canadian privacy commissioner counterparts, dealing with important privacy issues:
- Our Office joined in the call of Putting best interests of young people at the forefront of privacy and access to personal information. Young people live in a world where their digital life is a daily reality. Youth have a right to privacy across all sectors and there should be clear limits on when and how their personal information may be collected, used or shared.
- Our Office also called for Protecting Employee Privacy in the Modern Workplace. Employee monitoring has undergone substantial expansion in its use, technological capabilities and application in recent years and the adoption of digital surveillance technologies can have disproportionate impacts on employees’ privacy.
Tune in to hear Commissioner Michael Harvey discuss Data Privacy Week privacy topics including privacy rights of children and youth and employee privacy on VOCM’s News Talk (Monday, January 22, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.) and CBC’s The Signal (Thursday, January 25, 2024 at 12:00 p.m.).
Check our social media throughout Data Privacy Week for information about privacy and the protection of personal information and follow the hashtag #DPW2024.
For further information about the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and your privacy rights, please visit our website at www.oipc.nl.ca.
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Sean Murray
Director of Research and Quality Assurance
709-729-6309