Stats Canada’s Creepy Quest For Canadians’ Banking Info Could Destroy Trust In The Agency
Very disturbing.
The report revealing Statistics Canada wants the private banking info of 500,000 Canadians has generated tremendous outrage, and rightfully so.Statistics Canada is not supposed to be secretly invading the private financial lives of Canadian Citizens.
The fact that Stats Canada wants the info, and was arrogant enough to think that there wouldn’t be a backlash shows a concerning attitude on their part, and it’s an attitude that is likely to start destroying the trust the Canadian People have in the agency.
Just look at how Stats Canada referred to their demand for the info:
“Statistics Canada will be acquiring individual payments and income history information from financial institutions.”They don’t even say they would ‘like’ to acquire it. They say they ‘will’ acquire it, without the Canadian People being consulted or even being a part of the process at any step of the way.
And Canada’s former privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian was clearly concerned about the info demand, as noted by the Global News report:
It’s a horrible breach of the privacy of Canadians, and it shows Stats Canada is becoming a massive unaccountable bureaucracy that thinks it’s somehow above the Canadian People.“Most people would be surprised and devastated if they thought all of their financial information and bills and activity were being accessed in identifiable form by Statistics Canada or any branch of government,” she said. “Medical and financial records are the most sensitive personal data that exists.”
And while this may not have a direct impact on Stats Canada’s data, we have to start asking serious questions about whether we can really trust the numbers Stats Canada is pushing. If they’re willing to take our financial info without asking us, what else could they be doing behind the scenes, and what kind of agenda could they be advancing?
Spencer Fernando
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