Privacy Impact Assessment summaries

The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring the privacy and protection of personal information used to provide programs and services to the public.

The Directive on Privacy Impact Assessment is one of several tools designed to meet this commitment. This directive was implemented to assure Canadians that privacy principles are being taken into account when programs and services that raise privacy issues are being proposed, designed or implemented.

A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a project-based assessment that will assist government departments and agencies to evaluate the effects of program and service delivery on individuals’ privacy. It will also help to ensure the protection of personal information.

The Directive on PIA makes it mandatory to document, publish and maintain a PIA when creating a new program or activity or substantially modifying an existing one that may use personal information to make decisions about individuals. A PIA must also be undertaken if one of these will be substantially modified as a result of it being transferred to another level of government or contracted out to the private sector.

The following are summaries of PIAs that have been completed by the Public Service Commission.