The Privacy Commissioner of Canada said on March 1 that the federal government should define spam emailing and identity theft as offences in the Criminal Code. "I fail to understand what is stopping the government from moving ahead with something which is of concern to many Canadians," said Jennifer Stoddart. She added that Canada places sixth in the world of countries producing the most spam email but that it’s the only G8 country that hasn’t enacted legislation to outlaw the practice. "I don’t think that in the Criminal Code or in the Civil Code … there are sufficient dispositions to address this issue," she said. According to the RCMP, about 7,800 people reported identity theft last year, with losses totaling more than $16 million.

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