Minister leaves door open to tabling new police search powers bill after 1st attempt faced backlash

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree is adamant Canada's police and intelligence agencies are getting additional search powers, leaving the door open to introducing a new lawful access bill after his government's first attempt faced backlash.

The Liberals' current lawful access legislation, Bill C-2, had a rocky launch with civil liberties groups, privacy advocates and the Conservative Opposition all arguing it amounts to government overreach.

Lawful access is one of the most intrusive powers afforded to police and intelligence agencies, allowing them — with legal sign-off — to seize Canadians' private information, including their electronic communications.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and law enforcement agencies across the country, including the RCMP, have been increasingly vocal in recent years that they are hindered in their investigations because they do not have the policies and authorities in place to access messages and other information during increasingly complex cases in the digital space. 

"We will have a lawful access regime, no question," Anandasangaree told reporters on Thursday after a panel discussion on the issue hosted by the RCMP's union.

"We hope to ensure that we have over the next several weeks a proposal for lawful access legislation, whether refining or some other way that will enable us to have this as a reality in Canada."

Anandasangaree's comments follow a National Post article last week, citing sources who say the Carney government is considering starting anew with a narrower bill

Prime Minister Mark Carney has also signalled that he wants to see faster movement on lawful access to help police access messaging between suspected criminals.

"That is a job for Parliament and we need to move on that," he said last week during a meeting with law enforcement officials in Surrey, B.C. 

Tamir Israel, the director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA)'s privacy, surveillance and technology program and a critic of Bill C-2, has been involved in consultations about where Ottawa should take its lawful access legislation.

"Our understanding is that they are working on a new bill to table," he said. 

"I think the starting point is that there is an understanding from everyone that Bill C-2 was an overreach and was problematic."

First introduced as a border security omnibus, the government divided Bill C-2 in half in the fall to push other sections through the House of Commons.

Two sections of what remains in C-2 have attracted the most intense blowback, with critics arguing the bill would infringe personal privacy and could breach the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.