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SRI Privacy Discussion Group

SRI Privacy Group — September 2026

Bill C-36 and federal privacy reform

Friday, September 18, 2026

1:00–2:00 p.m. ET

Hybrid: in person at SRIC or via Zoom

Join our discussion group

Join us for the first SRI Privacy Group session of the 2026–27 academic year. Our September session will focus on Bill C-36 and federal privacy reform in Canada, with a discussion of the proposed legislation from legal, technical, policy, and sociotechnical perspectives.

New and returning members are welcome. Readings are optional and are not a prerequisite for attending.

Event Details

Date:
Friday, September 18, 2026
Time:
1:00–2:00 p.m. ET
Format:
Hybrid — join us in person at SRIC or online via Zoom
In-person location:
Schwartz Reisman Innovation Campus (SRIC), 108 College St, Toronto, ON M5G 0C6

Interested in attending?

Join our discussion group to receive in-person access instructions, room details, and Zoom joining information.

About This Session

Our kickoff session will explore Bill C-36, Canada’s proposed federal private-sector privacy legislation.

We will begin with a brief history of recent federal privacy reform efforts, including Bill C-11 (2020) and Bill C-27 (2022), before examining important changes introduced by Bill C-36.

The discussion will focus on assessing the effectiveness of these changes and their potential implications for individuals, organizations, regulators, and technology systems. Given the Privacy Group’s interdisciplinary membership, we are especially interested in examining potential tensions between what Bill C-36 aims to achieve in law and what is practically or technically possible in deployed systems.

Topics may include:

  • Federal privacy reform and the evolution from Bills C-11 and C-27 to Bill C-36
  • Oversight and enforcement
  • AI and automated decision-making transparency
  • Children’s privacy and sensitive data
  • Data deletion and disposal rights
  • Privacy obligations in real-world technical systems
  • Gaps between legal requirements, privacy policies, and system implementation
  • The practical enforceability and technical feasibility of proposed protections

The session will also provide an opportunity for members to reconnect after the summer and help identify themes for future Privacy Group discussions.

Background Readings

Readings are optional. Feel free to read any materials that are of interest to you.

Oversight, AI transparency, and children’s data

Canadians could demand firms delete their personal data under new privacy bill — The Logic
Read the article

Canada’s Bill C-36 tackles AI privacy. Is it enough? — Al Jazeera
Read the article

Teresa Scassa on Bill C-36

Professor Teresa Scassa has written several analyses of Bill C-36, including discussions of the right to data disposal, changes to oversight responsibilities, and explanations of automated decision-making (ADM).

Read Teresa Scassa’s writings

Overview of key changes

What the PPCDA keeps and what it changes — Osler
Read the overview

About the SRI Privacy Group

The SRI Privacy Group is an interdisciplinary community of students, faculty, and industry professionals representing fields including law, computer science, electrical engineering, policy, and the social sciences.

We take a sociotechnical approach to privacy, exploring the technical, legal, policy, and social dimensions of contemporary privacy issues.

During the 2026–27 academic year, the group will generally meet on the third Friday of each month from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET, with sessions held in remote or hybrid formats.

Interested in presenting or suggesting a topic?

We welcome presentations and discussion ideas from members of the community.

If you are working on a new project, would like feedback on a work in progress or recent paper, or have a privacy-related news item or topic that you would like the group to discuss, please reach out to the organizers:

We look forward to welcoming both new and returning members for the first session of the year.