- Establish a Beyond the Border Executive Steering Committee
- Develop a Statement of Joint Canada-U.S. Privacy Principles to Inform and Guide Information and Intelligence Sharing
Establish a Beyond the Border Executive Steering Committee
From the Action Plan
“We will form an Assistant Secretary/Assistant Deputy Minister-level Beyond the Border Executive Steering Committee (BTB ESC) that will hold annual meetings… The first order of business for the BTB ESC will be to oversee the implementation of the Action Plan. … (We) will generate a joint, public annual “Beyond the Border Implementation Report” (that) will be submitted to the President … and to the Prime Minister…”
What we are doing
- We will create a Beyond the Border Executive Steering Committee to oversee the implementation of the Action Plan.
- The BTB ESC will generate a joint, public annual “Beyond the Border Implementation Report”, which will be submitted to the Prime Minister and the President.
- The first BTB ESC will be convened by June 30, 2012, and the initial BTB Implementation Report will be released by December 31, 2012.
Why this is important
The Action Plan contains a wide array of detailed initiatives that will require careful management in the implementation phase. Consequently, Canada and the United States are creating an Executive Steering Committee, led by senior officials, to guide and ensure follow-up on this package of agreed items.
Develop a Statement of Joint Canada-U.S. Privacy Principles to Inform and Guide Information and Intelligence Sharing
From the Action Plan
“Our countries have a long history of sharing information responsibly and respecting our separate constitutional and legal frameworks that protect privacy. Responsible sharing not only demonstrates respect for the rule of law but also facilitates and promotes the flow of accurate, relevant and necessary information to address threats to national security and conduct law enforcement while respecting citizens’ civil liberties. It is in this spirit that the Beyond the Border Declaration commits our two countries to protecting privacy in all the initiatives we are undertaking, and to stating the privacy protection principles that will inform and guide our work in this regard.”
What we are doing
- Canada and the U.S. will complete, by May 30, 2012, the joint statement of privacy protection principles that will inform and guide our work under the Action Plan.
- The privacy principles will address the following areas: data quality; necessity/minimization; access; record ratification; purpose specification and use limitation; onward transfer to third countries; retention; security safeguards; effective oversight; redress/transparency; and appropriate exceptions to these principles, such as exceptions intended to protect the privacy/identity of a victim and the identity of an informant, as well as against disclosure of information that could jeopardize a law enforcement investigation.
Why this is important
The differences in the constitutional and legal frameworks of Canada and the United States result in somewhat different approaches to privacy. We currently share information in a responsible fashion about law enforcement and national security and other matters. Given the additional information sharing agreements in the Action Plan, it is imperative that we will explicitly set forth a joint privacy statement to inform and guide our work in this regard. These principles will provide policy-makers with a solid roadmap on privacy and information sharing and give the public a clear understanding of the issues that will be addressed in subsequent agreements or arrangements concluded as part of the Action Plan.