Allied Intelligence — 2026-10-18

Citizen Lab Warns Canada Lawful Access Act Threatens National Security by Mandating Surveillance Backdoors

BLUFBill C-22 is unlikely to clear the Canadian Senate by year-end, as unresolved tensions between mandated backdoors and encryption safeguards will stall legislative progress.

Citizen Lab senior research associate Kate Robertson wrote in The Globe and Mail on October 16 that the Senate has begun debating Bill C-22, the Lawful Access Act 12. She states the bill would let the government require that law enforcement-accessible surveillance capabilities be built into any communications technology in Canada, including smartphones, banking and health apps, and public WiFi, and would force stockpiling of Canadians' metadata 1. Robertson reports that the Department of Public Safety testified in May it expects technology companies to comply without weakening security 1. She also reports that the public safety minister said this summer the bill still permits compromising encryption in "extenuating" situations, after a May pledge to amend it 1.

Analysis
The Canadian Senate is unlikely to pass Bill C-22 at third reading by December 31, 2026. Confidence is moderate, resting on a single opinion piece by a Citizen Lab researcher that gives no Senate calendar, committee schedule or vote count. Debate has only begun, and Public Safety's May claim that companies can comply without weakening security remains unreconciled with objections from technology firms, cybersecurity experts and standards bodies. The minister's admission that encryption can still be compromised in "extenuating" situations undercuts the May pledge to protect it, and an expected Canada-EU digital trade agreement adds pressure to amend. The government may instead hold its majority and move the bill quickly, dismissing a known opponent's criticism as advocacy. If the bill passes by year-end, communications, banking and AI providers must begin compliance planning and EU negotiators must decide whether to condition integration on changes. If it stalls, both can defer.

2 sources

The Lawful Access Act threatens to blow a hole in Canada's national security - The Globe and Mail
The Lawful Access Act’s threats to Canada’s national security - Citizen Lab