With Bill 64,1 Quebec is taking the lead in
Canada on reforming privacy legislation2 and seeks to
follow the example of the General Data Protection
Regulation ("GDPR").3 In fact, a
review of the new bill reveals a number of similarities with the
GDPR with respect to both individual rights and business
obligations.
New Rights for Individuals
Currently under Quebec's Private Sector Act,4
individuals have the right to be informed in order to obtain their
consent, to access their personal information and to make changes
to their information. Bill 64 gives them additional rights, thereby
aiming to parallel those provided under the GDPR.
Individual's Consent
Firstly, as we discussed in a previous Bulletin,5
for consent to be given, the individual must be informed. To obtain
consent from the person in question, the information must be
written in clear and simple language and must include the purpose,
the means by which the information will be collected,