FIELD NOTES

From the privacy work itself.

Drawn from the privacy work itself — assessments delivered for federal and provincial public bodies. Written notes on where the law is actually landing, briefs on the work itself, and guides for practitioners who have to run this in-house.

Notes

Case briefs

Guides

NOTES

Where the law is actually landing

Short practitioner writing on Canadian privacy law, AI governance, and what regulators are signalling before it becomes a rule.

All 13 →

AI Governance

6 min read

The AIA Asks Where Your Data Comes From. It Never Asks How You Destroy It.

The Algorithmic Impact Assessment weighs data more heavily than any other risk area, yet none of its questions ask where data is stored, how long it is kept or how it is destroyed. The answers belong in the PIA and your institution's retention rules. Here is where to check them, and what vendors need to have ready.

October 15, 2026

Program Ops

6 min read

The Data Is Flowing. The Agreement Doesn't Exist.

Personal information can start moving to a vendor or another organization before anyone signs the agreement meant to govern it. When a service provider handles it for you, Canada's private-sector privacy laws keep the responsibility with you. Find the gaps this week with a three-column inventory.

October 15, 2026

Program Ops

5 min read

Does Your PIA Still Match Your Service?

A privacy impact assessment is written against a design, and then the service keeps changing. Here is how to check whether yours still describes the service running today, record what changed, decide what needs attention, and wire the next change into a process you already run.

October 15, 2026

Program Ops

6 min read

Nobody Owns Retention Until It's Too Late

A system can go live holding personal information with no approved retention schedule, and default to keeping it forever because nobody decided otherwise. Retention isn't a records-management chore to sort out after launch — it's a launch requirement. Here's how to make it one, and how to test whether yours is real.

August 14, 2026

GUIDES