Lawful Access is back: All about Bill C-22 (Spoiler alert: Part 2 is very troubling.)

On March 12, 2026, the Canadian Public Safety Minister tabled Bill C-22 in Parliament: the Lawful Access Act, 2026, which will create new police information demands and require "electronic service providers" to create new capabilities for the interception and retrieval of data for the police and national security authorities. Part 1 is much improved since it was first introduced as Part 14 of the "Strong Borders Act." Part 2, however, is deeply problematic as it has the potential to create a expansive surveillance infrastructure -- mostly in the shadows -- beyond what I think Canadians can tolerate. 0:27 Bill C-22 in a nutshell 1:36 History of “lawful access” attempts in Canada 3:35 Outline of the episode 4:10 Computer search warrants 5:00 Confirmation of service demands 9:16 Production order – subscriber information 10:27 What is “subscriber information”? 12:24 Foreign entity information requests 13:50 Gag orders 14:14 Judicial review of production orders 15:03 Voluntary disclosure of information 16:10 “Publicly available information” 17:25 Exigent circumstances 17:48 Track all the things 18:57 Part 2 – Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act 21:09 The “purposes” of SAAIA 21:58 What are “electronic service providers” 24:07 “Core providers” 24:36 Obligations on “core providers” 25:48 New retention obligations for core providers 28:00 No obligation to introduce “systemic vulnerabilities” 29:43 Secret ministerial orders 31:17 Obligations to assist 32:25 Draconian confidentiality obligations 33:10 International implications 33:42 Requirements for judicial review 33:54 Confidentiality and security regulations 34:45 Backdoors can be exploited by bad guys 36:10 The government’s justification for these powers 38:53 If you build it, they will come Where you can find me ► Privacylawyer blog: https://blog.privacylawyer.ca ► My law firm: https://www.mcinnescooper.com/people/... ► Twitter:   / privacylawyer   ► LinkedIn:   / davidtsfraser   Disclaimer: This is intended for education and information only and should not be taken as legal advice. If you need advice for your particular situation, you should seek out qualified counsel. All views expressed are solely those of the creator and should not be attributed to his firm or any of its clients.