Recent Legislative Developments In Bill 64

• Published date: 09 March 2021
• Subject Matter: Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Privacy, IT and Internet, Privacy Protection
• Law Firm: Fasken
• Author: Mr William Deneault-Rouillard and Antoine Aylwin

Bulletin #29 | Special Series - Bill 64 & the act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information

It has been more than eight months since Bill 64 was introduced in Quebec's National Assembly. Originating in June 2020 from the office of then Minister of Justice Sonia LeBel, then passed on to her successor Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette, Bill 64 has been under the responsibility of Minister Responsible for Access to Information and the Protection of Personal Information Éric Caire since February 2, 2021. Detailed review of Bill 64 by the Committee on Institutions also began on February 2.

This bulletin provides an overview of recent developments, specifically of amendments adopted to date during the committee stage. Only a few changes to the Act respecting Access to documents held by public bodies and the Protection of personal information ("Access Act") have been effected so far, but some of them will likely have to be carried over to the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector.

Governance and responsibilities with respect to access to documents and protection of personal information within public bodies (s. 1 Bill 64)

To begin, it is important to note that, if they are delegated, the roles of persons in charge of access to documents and persons in charge of the protection of personal information within Quebec public bodies¹must be exercised "autonomously":

"8. The person exercising the highest authority within a public body shall see to ensuring that this Act is implemented and complied with within the body. That person shall exercise the function of person in charge of access to documents and the function of person in charge of the protection of personal information.

All or part of those functions may be delegated in writing to a member of the public body or of its board of directors, as the case may be, or to a member of the management personnel. [TRANSLATION] This person must be able to exercise them autonomously.

[...]"

This addition to the second paragraph of the Bill's new section 8 clarifies how these responsibilities may be delegated, ensuring that the person to whom the functions are assigned is not subordinated to anyone within the public body. This constitutes a major change, since accountability for access to documents and protection of personal information would be fully transferred from the public body to the designated individual. It remains to be seen whether this objective is realistic and whether this accountability shift can be implemented.

An irregularity with respect to identifying the person responsible for the committee on access to information within...