Supplementary Information Tables – 2024-25 Departmental Results Report (DRR)
Details on transfer payment programs
Transfer payment program or funding agreement: Contributions Program of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC)
Start date: April 1, 2025
End date: March 31, 2030
Type of transfer payment: Contribution
Type of appropriation: Appropriated annually through Estimates
Fiscal year for terms and conditions: 2024-25
Link to departmental result(s): Canadians are empowered to exercise their privacy rights and; Parliamentarians, and public and private sector organizations are informed and guided to protect Canadian’s privacy rights.
Link to the department’s Program Inventory: Promotion Program
Purpose and objectives of transfer payment program: This program exists under section 24 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). This section states — among other things — that the Commissioner is authorized to take any action that is appropriate to promote Part I of the Act. In accordance with PIPEDA, the goals and objectives of the Program are to:
- Capitalize on the existing capacity of not-for-profit organizations, such as academic institutions and civil society groups, to generate new knowledge and support the development of expertise in selected areas of privacy and data protection.
- Increase awareness and understanding among individuals and organizations of their privacy rights and obligations.
- Promote uptake and application of research results by relevant stakeholders.
Results achieved: 7 projects funded.
Findings of audits completed in 2024-25: N/A
Findings of evaluations completed in 2024-25: N/A
Engagement of applicants and recipients in 2024-25: Officials administering the program engage with applicants and recipients by proactively seeking out proposals from the stakeholder community; reviewing and assessing proposals; answering questions from potential applicants and recipients; liaising with recipients during the entire course of their projects; reviewing deliverables and providing feedback to recipients as required; inviting recipients to speak about their projects to OPC employees; working with recipients on public education material related to their completed projects.
| Type of transfer payment | 2022-23 actual spending | 2023-24 actual spending | 2024-25 planned spending | 2024-25 total authorities available for use | 2024-25 actual spending (authorities used) | Variance (2024-25 actual minus 2024-25 planned) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total grants | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total contributions |
$498,506 |
$496,464 |
$500,000 | $500,000 | $500,000 |
$0 |
| Total other types of transfer payments | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Total program |
$498,506 |
$496,464 |
$500,000 | $500,000 | $500,000 |
$0 |
Gender-based Analysis Plus
Section 1: Institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity
Governance
To build and maintain a Gender-based analysis plus (GBA Plus) governance, the OPC has appointed a Champion and a co-champion to raise awareness and disseminate information across the organization. They engage in numerous discussions on how to incorporate GBA Plus into both internal and external services across the Office and participate on government-wide working groups. The OPC has also developed a framework and an action plan that are currently being implemented.
Capacity
The OPC recognizes the importance of GBA Plus to understand the impacts of its programs and services to achieve better outcomes and supports its implementation throughout the Office. A working group comprising members from all directorates is in place and meets as needed. One of the goals of this working group is to promote GBA Plus as a community of practice. The Women and Gender Equality Canada’s GBA Plus training is also part of the OPC recommended training in its employees’ learning roadmap.
Human resources (full-time equivalents) dedicated to GBA Plus
During the 2024–25 fiscal year, approximately 0.25 FTE was dedicated to working on GBA Plus within the OPC. The calculation of FTEs is based on the efforts dedicated to this initiative as an organization to meet certain requirements contained in the preparation of the Departmental Plan, Departmental Results Report, and Submissions to Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat. The efforts required to participate in the GBA Plus interdepartmental committee meetings are also considered in this calculation. Resources were also deployed in the past year to further clarify roles and responsibilities as it relates to GBA Plus, and explore opportunities to leverage the centralized planning, performance measurement, business intelligence and evaluation functions to help the OPC progress in its implementation of GBA Plus across the Office.
Section 2: Gender and diversity impacts, by program
Core responsibility: Protection of Privacy Rights
The mission of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) is to protect and promote the privacy rights of individuals. In fulfilling its core responsibility, the OPC aims to ensure that the rights of all Canadians, including those from vulnerable populations who may be less able to protect themselves from risk of harm due to a number of factors, are recognized and protected. The philosophy behind GBA Plus is a natural complement to the work of the OPC in this regard. By strategically applying factors from the Government of Canada’s proposed GBA Plus framework in an intersectional manner, the OPC can better understand the range of experiences, barriers and inequalities that groups of people face, leading to a better diagnostic of the problem, strengthened solutions and nuanced strategies to reduce inequalities.
Program name: Compliance Program
Program goals: Through its Compliance Program, the OPC contributes to the protection of privacy rights through the enforcement of federal privacy obligations by federal government institutions and private-sector organizations. This program investigates privacy-related complaints, reviews privacy breaches and assesses how well organizations are complying with requirements set out in the two federal privacy laws. These compliance activities are supported by specialized legal and technological expertise.
Target population: Although the Compliance Program is designed to benefit all Canadians and directly impacts their ability to exercise control over their personal information and enables them to exercise their privacy rights, it is recognized that privacy issues impact individuals in unique ways and certain groups stand to particularly benefit from the OPC’s programs and services: lived experiences with privacy are influenced by intersecting factors such as gender, sexual orientation, race, age, socio-economic status and abilities.
Specific demographic group(s) to be monitored
The OPC is committed to reviewing and assessing the differential impacts of privacy challenges on diverse groups of people through strategic application of GBA Plus analysis to relevant aspects of its work. Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to privacy risks and issues in the digital age. Recognizing the need to ensure that young people can benefit from technology without compromising their privacy and well-being, the OPC has made championing children’s privacy one of its strategic priorities in its 2024–27 Strategic Plan.
Key program impacts* on gender and diversity
Other key program impacts
Several initiatives were undertaken in 2024–25 to further the OPC’s strategic priority of protecting children’s privacy within its Compliance Program. Throughout the year the OPC applied a children’s privacy lens to enforcement activities and will leverage investigative findings – such as ongoing investigations into TikTok to inform organizations and to incentivize them to develop products and services with stronger privacy protections for children.
As part of the 2024 Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) Sweep, the OPC and its provincial counterparts in British Columbia and Alberta looked at deceptive design patterns in websites and apps aimed at children and published their findings.
The OPC’s work aimed to protect children’s privacy in the digital realm and ensure that they can participate in a digital environment that is free from deceptive practices and with the freedom to navigate online spaces securely.
Program name: Promotion Program
Program goals: Through its Promotion Program, the OPC contributes to the protection of privacy rights through its proactive efforts to increase awareness and understanding of rights and obligations and to promote compliance with federal privacy legislation. To that end, the Program provides information, guidance and advice to support organizations in meeting their federal privacy responsibilities and to support Canadians in exercising their privacy rights. This program also provides advice to Parliament on the potential privacy implications of proposed legislation and government programs.
Target population: Although the Promotion Program is designed to benefit all Canadians and directly impacts their ability to exercise control over their personal information and enables them to exercise their privacy rights, it is recognized that privacy issues impact individuals in unique ways: lived experiences with privacy are influenced by intersecting factors such as gender, sexual orientation, race, age, socio-economic status and abilities.
Specific demographic group(s) to be monitored
The OPC is committed to reviewing and assessing the differential impacts of privacy challenges on diverse groups of people through strategic application of GBA Plus analysis to relevant aspects of its work. Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to privacy risks and issues in the digital age. Recognizing the need to ensure that young people can benefit from technology without compromising their privacy and well-being, the OPC has made championing children’s privacy one of its strategic priorities in its 2024–27 Strategic Plan.
Key program impacts* on gender and diversity
Other key program impacts
Several promotion initiatives were undertaken in 2024–25 to further the OPC’s strategic priority of protecting children’s privacy.
To deepen its understanding of children’s privacy experiences and reinforce its commitment to GBA Plus, the OPC launched a research program in 2024–25 aimed at expanding its knowledge and expertise. This initiative explores the risks and impacts of privacy issues on young people from diverse backgrounds. The research focuses on identifying key privacy concerns for children, examining their awareness and perceptions of privacy protection, and assessing their ability to respond to privacy-related harms. As part of this effort, the OPC has conducted scoping studies, stakeholder engagements, and focus groups with young people aged 13-17 to gain insights into young people’s lived experiences. Additionally, surveys of parents and teachers were carried out to better understand their roles as essential supports in safeguarding children’s privacy.
The OPC has since taken steps to use finding from this research to inform its activities and to help clarify compliance expectations. This includes by developing exploratory research and consultation into topics such as age assurance and a children’s privacy code and the establishment of a Youth Advisory Council.
The OPC also made use of its Contributions Program to fund privacy-related research into the privacy perspectives of young users in the context of artificial intelligence in 2024–25. As part of the OPC’s call for proposals, all applicants were encouraged to incorporate an intersectional analysis into their project and to include strategies that could help reduce inequalities between people.
The OPC also hosted an international symposium aimed at exploring key issues related to the protection of children’s privacy. The symposium – entitled “Youth Privacy in a Digital Age” – was organized to explore issues ranging from data privacy from the perspective of teens, the impacts of artificial intelligence on young people, deceptive design, educational technologies, and the best interests of the child in the digital space. Youth leaders, academics, senior government leaders, civil society representatives, industry stakeholders, and data protection authorities from around the world were in attendance.
Empowering children and their parents to be more knowledgeable about the implications of their privacy choices will help build a generation of children and adults with strong and inherent privacy awareness. The OPC’s work under its championing children’s privacy priority is also expected to benefit organizations who will receive more guidance to meet their obligations to respect children’s privacy and to design services and products with children’s privacy in mind.
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