Canada: Children & Vulnerable Groups

The bill's approach of requiring both a heightened organisational handling standard and a best-interests consideration built into the enforcement Commission's own decision-making process suggests a two-pronged structure: a substantive obligation on organisations collecting or processing children's data, and a procedural obligation on the regulator itself when assessing compliance or imposing penalties in matters involving children's data. Neither obligation is yet in force, as Bill C-36 remains at first reading.

No provincial development specific to children's or vulnerable groups' data protection was located in the material reviewed this cycle beyond the federal Bill C-36 proposal; Quebec's Law 25 enforcement activity reviewed this cycle, including the biometric facial-recognition matter, did not concern children's data specifically.

Outlook

The fate of Bill C-36's children's-data provisions, both the heightened handling standard and the Commission's best-interests consideration duty, depends on the bill's progress through committee and subsequent readings; no indication of the bill's committee timetable was located this cycle.