Lawful access reform is being presented as a modest update to police powers for the digital age. Bill C-22 is more than that. Accessing data a company already holds is one thing; requiring companies to redesign their systems so private messages can be unlocked on demand is another. That requirement risks creating unintended security consequences.

Serious bad actors can move to foreign or self-built tools that sit outside Canadian law. The security burden falls instead on families, businesses, and professionals using mainstream services that would now be required to build in access points. Canada’s own Centre for Cyber Security has long urged Canadians to protect themselves with stronger encryption. Bill C-22 moves in the opposite direction.

Watch now for a virtual panel presented by ITIF’s Centre for Canadian Innovation and Competitiveness on what Bill C-22 would actually do, why building in backdoors tends to introduce new security risks rather than contain them, and what a more targeted approach could look like.

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