Duclos and Tam face Ethics committee over data collection, RFP extended again

Data being collected by private companies on behalf of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) was de-identified, aggregated and depersonalized, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam repeatedly stressed to the House of Commons Ethics Committee on Thursday. Such data cannot be re-identified once it has been delivered, the minister pointed out. PHAC issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) in Dec. 2021 for a company to continue to gather information to enter the location data of citizens' cell phones and to share it with the agency. Originally the RFP had a deadline of Jan. 24, when Parliament was not sitting. It was extended to Feb. 4 when members of parliament complained. Duclos told the committee that the deadline has been extended yet again to Feb. 18. This will allow for greater competition among bidders, he added. The original contract was issued to Telus Corp. in 2020. Last year Blue Dot Corp. handled the data. The tender for the third contract was issued in late Dec. 2021. Duclos said the department generally, and PHAC specifically, make well informed decisions on fighting the COVID-19 pandemic based on the best advice it can find. “The use of mobility data is not unique to Canada and to PHAC,” the minister said, reciting a litany of other countries in the G7, G20 and OECD who use mobility data to monitor COVID spread. Conservative MP John Brassard, who led the fight for the committee to investigate the RFP, asked why the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) was not consulted. Declos replied that the OPC was informed in April of 2020. Meetings with the OPC were conducted every two weeks and it was determined that no privacy breaches were apparent in the contract. The PHAC data is available on a Health Canada website; 1.7 million people have accessed the information so far. Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner asked Duclos to dispel notions that the PHAC activity was a data scoop and that the OPC was not consulted. “We need to avoid confusion and avoid creating fear,” the minister responded. “We worked with the Privacy Commissioner from the very start.” Bloc Québécois member René Villemure asked if the RFP could be suspended until the committee had time to report back to the House. He asked Duclos the same thing in Question Period Thursday but did not get an answer. The minister was slightly more forthcoming in committee. “You have to use all of the tools at your disposal,” Duclos stated. Villemure’s participation in Question Period came one day after Brassard hammered the government over the contract. “Will the prime minister respect the committee’s decision and cancel the RFP?” he asked. “Unlike the Conservative Party, we believe data and evidence need to inform our response to COVID-19,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau replied on Wednesday. “It is crucial to inform policy and decision making. The Public Health Agency of Canada has used de-identified data without personal identifiers to inform the government’s response to the pandemic and worked closely with the privacy commissioner throughout.” “Security and privacy experts are concerned about the security protocols and measures that were put in place to protect the privacy of Canadians in this data scoop. Why was it done in secret without the users’ consent? Why was the privacy commissioner not consulted?” Brassard fired back. “Where a Canadian eats, where they get gas, what family members they visit and how many times they go to Costco is no business of this government, especially in a pandemic. Does the prime minister not understand that personal privacy protection is the foundation of our democracy?” “Once again we see the Conservatives continue their ill-informed war on data,” Trudeau said, ignoring the fact the committee investigation and demand that the RFP be delayed both passed unanimously in committee with Liberal MPs joining their opposition colleagues. Brassard had raised the matter with Duclos in Tuesday’s session of Parliament. At Thursday’s committee hearing, questions about informed consent flowed constantly from the members of parliament to the expert witnesses. Christopher Allison, acting vice-president of PHAC’s corporate data branch, explained that Telus and Blue Dot both considered consent was given unless customers specifically opted out of having their data collected. Allison told the members that PHAC never saw the raw data from the telecom firms. Although information was shared with provinces, territories and municipalities, no data was exchanged. The partners received reports based on the Telus and Blue Dot material, which is collected as a regular part of business. NDP member Matthew Green asked Tam what would happen if the RFP were not permitted to proceed. The health officer, who initially refused to appear before the committee, said PHAC would suffer from the lack of data. It may be possible to fill in lost data if another RFP were issued in the future, she surmised. Villemure questioned Allison if the data would continue to be collated after the pandemic is over. “Mobility data is useful,” the public servant replied. “It could be used for a range of public health issues.” Asked by the Bloquiste when the pandemic would be over, Tam said that determination would be made at an international level but that Canada is looking at passing the crisis level. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Duclos and Tam face Ethics committee over data collection, RFP extended again

News | February 3, 2022

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Duclos and Tam face Ethics committee over data collection, RFP extended again

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