How Canadians Can Protect Their Charter Rights[74]

The Charter does, however, guarantee general rights to liberty and security in Section 7: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”7 According to the Government of Canada’s own explanation of Section 7 provisions, “The Supreme Court has not yet fully explored or deve. [...] Both the Privacy Act and the CPPA make consent a prerequisite for data gathering: “The knowledge and consent of the individual are required for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information, except where inappropriate.”12 If challenged, the burden of proof falls on the government to prove that their collection of data does not require consent; i.e. [...] Note that while the exemption to the requirement of obtaining consent is broad and opposition to utilization of the exemption may not be accepted, it is worth indicating to the government one’s resistance to data collection. [...] The government sought to utilize this Digital ID system to prevent citizens from entering the country, in direct violation with Section 6(2) of the Charter: “Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada.”16 Many Canadians, such as Lindsay McDonald, were fined for failing to download the app but have since been acquitted.17 II. [...] Almost every major Canadian bank and credit union has signed on to become a partner of the Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada (DIACC), the council overseeing the implementation of digital identification in the country.