On Oct. 28 the Federal Privacy Commissioner and the Privacy
Commissioners of Alberta and British Columbia (collectively,
Regulators) unveiled findings that The Cadillac Fairview
Corporation Limited (CF) had been collecting and using the personal
information (including sensitive biometric information) of visitors
to its Canadian malls, without valid consent, in contravention of
Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic
Documents Act, Alberta's Personal Information Protection Act,
and British Columbia's Personal Information Protection
Act (Acts).
As early as 2018 Canadian media sources had begun sounding the
alarm as to whether CF was using certain facial
recognition/analytic technologies without adequate consent. The
concern arose from the use of Anonymous Video Analytics (AVA)
technology installed on digital wayfinding directories, the
touchscreen digital maps that allow visitors to locate stores and
find their way through CF shopping malls.
