PIPEDA & Bill C-27: The Complete Privacy Guide for Ontario Businesses

Data privacy in Canada is no longer just a "best practice"—it is a strict legal obligation with significant financial penalties. For business owners in Ontario, navigating the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) is critical. Furthermore, the proposed Bill C-27 (Consumer Privacy Protection Act) aims to modernize these laws with even stiffer fines.

This guide breaks down exactly what your business needs to do to remain compliant and specific steps to secure customer data.

What is Personal Information?

Under PIPEDA, "personal information" is broadly defined. It includes:

• Name, Age, ID numbers.
• Income, ethnic origin, or blood type.
• Opinions, evaluations, comments, social status, or disciplinary actions.
• Employee files, credit records, loan records, medical records.

If you collect, use, or disclose this data in the course of commercial activity, you are liable.

The 10 Principles of Fair Information

To comply with PIPEDA, an organization must follow these 10 ground rules:

1. Accountability: You must appoint a "Privacy Officer" aimed at ensuring compliance. (For small businesses, this is often the owner).
2. Identifying Purposes: You must tell people why you are collecting their data before or at the time of collection.
3. Consent: The knowledge and consent of the individual are required. (e.g., You cannot just add email addresses to a marketing list without permission).
4. Limiting Collection: Collect only what is necessary. (Do you really need their home address for a digital download?).
5. Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention: Do not use data for a new purpose without new consent. Delete data when it is no longer needed (Data Minimization).
6. Accuracy: Keep information accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date.
7. Safeguards: This is the IT core. You must protect data with security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.
   • Physical: Locked filing cabinets, restricted office access.
   • Technological: Encryption, Firewalls, MFA, complex passwords.
8. Openness: make detailed policies and practices available to the public (e.g., a Privacy Policy on your website).
9. Individual Access: Upon request, you must inform an individual of the existence, use, and disclosure of their personal information and give them access to it.
10. Challenging Compliance: An individual must be able to address a challenge concerning compliance to your Privacy Officer.

Mandatory Breach Reporting

This is where many businesses fail. Under the Digital Privacy Act amendment, you MUST report any breach of security safeguards to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and to the affected individuals if it creates a "real risk of significant harm" (RROSH).

• Significant Harm includes: Bodily harm, humiliation, damage to reputation or relationships, loss of employment, business or professional opportunities, financial loss, identity theft, negative effects on the credit record, and damage to or loss of property.
• Fines: Knowingly failing to report a breach can result in fines of up to $100,000.

How to Achieve Technical Compliance

Compliance is 80% process and 20% technology. ACE IT Solutions helps you build the technological fence:

1. Encryption: Encrypting laptop hard drives (BitLocker) so that if stolen, the data is unreadable (and therefore not a reportable breach in some contexts).
2. Access Control: Ensuring only authorized staff can access sensitive folders.
3. Logs & Audits: Keeping records of who accessed what data and when.

Ignorance of the law is not a defense. Protect your customers and your future by building a privacy-first infrastructure today.