Picketing Trumps Privacy: SCC Declares Alberta Privacy Legislation Unconstitutional

The Supreme Court of Canada (the SCC) released its long-awaited ruling in Information and Privacy Commissioner, et al. v. United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401 on November 15, 2013. In its decision, the SCC unanimously held that Alberta's Personal Information  Protection Act (PIPA) unconstitutionally infringes the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter). This decision confirms that, after a decade of legislative and judicial trends emphasizing the privacy rights of individuals, such rights, while fundamentally important, are not absolute and will have limits.

While the SCC declared PIPA invalid in its entirety, it suspended that declaration for 12 months to grant the Alberta Legislature an opportunity to revise PIPA. It is noteworthy that both the Appellant Attorney General of Alberta and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta requested this general declaration of invalidity, indicating that the Alberta