The federal government is set to discuss a new bill that would help improve Canadian infrastructure against cyberattacks, as well as against other national security concerns.
One of the provisions of Bill C-59 is the enhancement of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), allowing the agency to conduct cyberattacks against foreign hostile actors looking to compromise Canada’s infrastructure from abroad.
CSE chief Greta Bossenmaier explained to the Commons National Security Committee that the section of the legislation that permits the agency to gather and analyze publicly-available information will not be used to profile Canadian citizens.
“It has to be in relation to our mandate, and we are a foreign signals intelligence organization; we focus on foreign targets and foreign threats to Canada. So, we don’t have a mandate to focus on Canadians,” Bossenmaier pointed out.
Building on the bill, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale – who endorsed the proposal last week – said that the government will introduce a number of initiatives that would help protect Canadians from data breaches.
“You will, from the government through the course of this winter, see at least three specific initiatives to enhance our governance arrangement around how we deal with cyber, enhance the resources that are provided to deal with cyber-security, and to make our response mechanisms a lot more nimble,” Goodale told reporters.
The bill also rescinds some of the more controversial security legislation from a previous bill, C-51.
Bill C-51 defined criminal terrorism speech as one that “knowingly advocates or promotes the commission of terrorism offences in general.”
Goodale said that C-51’s wording was so vague, that it was unenforceable in court. This ambiguity, he argued, is the reason why no charges have been laid under it.
Under C-59, the Criminal Code’s wording changes to “counsels another person to commit a terrorism offence,”
National Post reported.
“We’ve made it more precise without affecting its efficacy, and I think made it more likely that charges can be laid and successfully prosecuted,” Goodale commented.
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