Creating standards for Canadian health data protection during health emergency – An analysis of privacy regulations and laws

Abstract

Health emergencies require unprecedented measures to protect the public from the health disaster. Such measures may require limiting the exercise of personal freedom and other rights like the right to data privacy. The limitation, however, should be temporary and proportionate so that privacy rights are not compromised superfluously. In this aspect, the European Union (EU) implemented better data protection measures and guided the government and various entities on the acceptable ways of handling data during a pandemic, though the measures taken were not very comprehensive. Canadian privacy laws in general are sector driven and not harmonised at the national level and there is no new guidance on the usage of data during emergencies. Hence, this research will analyse laws and regulation in EU and Canada with a view to understanding the necessity of amending privacy laws in Canada to make it relevant, up-to-date and in compliance with EU data protection requirements so data sharing from EU countries could be made easy. It further encapsulates appropriate standards for Canada health data protection for better management of health data privacy.