A new federal bill is raising alarm bells over digital privacy in Canada. Bill C-2, originally intended to address border-related issues, quietly includes sweeping powers that would allow a wide range of government agencies to demand Internet subscriber data—without a warrant.
University of Ottawa law professor and leading digital rights expert Dr. Michael Geist says the bill is a major step backward for privacy, potentially undoing key protections established by the Supreme Court of Canada.
“This kind of warrantless access was already struck down by the courts,” Geist said in a breakdown of Bill C-2. “Now the government is trying to bring it back through the back door, buried in a border bill.”
The new powers in Bill C-2 would let agencies demand details such as whether a company provided services to a user, when and where they connected, who they communicated with, and what apps they used—all without judicial oversight. While content of messages would still require a warrant, everything else could be handed over quietly—and telecom companies would be barred from telling users for a full year. That doesn’t scream transparency at all.
Even more concerning, providers would receive legal immunity if they voluntarily hand over data—even if no official request was made.
Dr. Geist points out that the government continues to frame this data as “phone book”-level info, but the truth is far more invasive. He warns that this type of access could open the door to millions of secret data grabs every year.
“In 2011, telecom providers responded to over 1.1 million such requests—without warrants,” Geist noted. “Subscriber data was handed over for nearly 800,000 people. And that was over a decade ago.”
Since then, wireless subscriptions in Canada have increased by 40%, and the rise of apps, smart devices, and Internet services means even more personal data is now in play.
Geist says the Supreme Court’s 2014 Spencer decision brought this kind of warrantless access to a halt, but Bill C-2 would reopen the floodgates. Worse still, he warns the volume of requests could be much higher today—not just from telecom companies, but also platforms like Google and Meta.
“If passed, this could become the single biggest source of personal data for law enforcement in Canada—with no judge involved,” Geist said.
Critics say the federal government’s move to sneak this power into a border bill is misleading and sets a dangerous precedent for how privacy rights are eroded in the country.
Besides Bill C-2, there’s also Bill C-4, which will let political parties share your personal information without being bound to both provincial and federal privacy laws.
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