Home Newsroom 2005 News releases (archive) 2005-11-15: Legislation to modernize investigative techniques introduced today Backgrounder: Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act - Consultations

Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act - Consultations

The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act (MITA) strikes the right balance between the need for the police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to maintain their investigative capabilities and the associated costs to industry of putting interception capabilities in place, without infringing on Canadians’ rights and freedoms. Recognizing the importance of stakeholder input on this proposed legislation, the Government of Canada has consulted extensively with citizens and stakeholder groups.

During the summer of 2002, the Government heard from more than 300 individuals and organizations during public consultations. A second round of consultations was held in 2005 with key stakeholders from the telecommunications industry, police associations and privacy advocates. There were over 40 bilateral meetings between government officials and privacy commissioners, telecommunications companies and their associations, law enforcement agencies, as well as civil liberty groups. 

These consultations and resulting submissions have provided insightful input that has informed the development of the legislation.

Ensuring strict privacy safeguards
The Criminal Code and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act provide for the lawful interception of communications and always require legal authority. It is exercised in a manner that recognizes Canadians’ rights to privacy including the protections enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and other laws. The Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act (MITA) will not change these existing authorities in any way.

The new legislation will make basic subscriber contact information available on request to law enforcement and CSIS. This type of information is important to effective law enforcement and is needed for many policing duties, ranging from identifying suspects to contacting families in the event of an accident.

Throughout the consultations, the inclusion of strict privacy safeguards was an issue raised by privacy advocates. While MITA will allow access to basic subscriber contact information, it also includes important safeguards.

These safeguards include:

• Limiting, and designating, law enforcement or CSIS officials who could request subscriber information from telecommunications service providers;
• Requiring designated officials to complete a record of any such requests, including the reason for the request; and
• Making such records available for audit and oversight purposes.

The actions of CSIS and the RCMP would also continue to be subject to review by the Security Intelligence Review Committee and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Minimizing costs to industry and consumers
As a result of feedback received from consultations with service providers, modifications have been made to the initial Government of Canada proposals. Here are a few key examples:

• Telecommunications service providers will be given an initial transition period of 12 months following the coming into force of the regulations. This will give them time to integrate interception capability into their business plans.
• A number of mechanisms have been built into the legislation to address companies’ concerns that they have flexibility in designing an interception capability into their networks. Service providers will not be required to deploy specific equipment; they will be able to select the most cost efficient solution for their particular networks. Service providers will also be able to apply to the Minister for permission to put in place an intercept capability in a different manner.
• Companies objected to the possibility of criminal penalties for companies that did not comply with the legislation, therefore MITA includes monetary penalties.

Proposals that do not form part of proposed legislation:

• A proposal that service providers collect and retain subscriber contact information and that a national database of this information be created was not included in MITA.
• A proposal for data retention that would require service providers to collect and retain information about their subscribers’ communication activities, such as web surfing, does not form part of the legislation.
• A proposal that service providers would have to verify the identity of all their subscribers (“know your customer”), which would prohibit anonymous services such as pre-paid telephone cards was also not included in MITA.