C-8: An Act respecting cyber security

The bill, first introduced in 2022, died earlier this year when Parliament was prorogued ahead of the election

Canada’s Bill C-8 proposes to enact the Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act, imposing cybersecurity obligations for key industries.

Canada is proposing sweeping changes to strengthen its cyber resilience through Bill C‑8. This two-part legislation enhances federal powers over telecom infrastructure and establishes enforceable cybersecurity obligations for critical infrastructure operators. Read our full breakdown of what it mean

Link to Bill Full Text Open Parliament Coverage * Submission to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security * An Overview of Canada’s Bill C-26: “An Act Respecting Cybersecurity.” * Joint Letter of Concern regarding Bill C-26 * Ottawa wants the power to create secret backdoors in our networks to allow

Earlier this year, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino introduced Bill C-26, new cyber-security legislation. The bill may address an issue that is widely regarded as essential, but once Canadian privacy and civil liberties had the opportunity to review the fine print in the bill, many came away concerned. Indeed, by September a coalition of groups and experts wrote to the Minister and party leaders, stating “Bill C-26 is deeply problematic and needs fixing”, warning that it risks undermining privacy rights. Brenda McPhail, the Director of the Privacy, Technology and Surveillance Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, led the effort to place Bill C-26 in the spotlight. She joins the Law Bytes podcast to discuss the bill and the myriad of concerns that it raises.

Uncompromised encryption is the backbone of cybersecurity. And yet Bill C-26 would allow the federal government to secretly order telcos to undermine that encryption – which would make us more vulnerable to malicious threats