Why Europe Is Raising Concerns About Canada's Lawful-Access Bill
A coalition of civil society organisations and digital experts has warned the European Commission that Ottawa's lawful-access bill creates privacy risks for Europeans and should be raised in Canada-EU digital trade talks.
The letter was sent ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to Europe. It was addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and members of the European Parliament, with copies to EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Michael McGrath, according to The Globe and Mail.
Signatories include European Digital Rights, a network of more than 50 groups across Europe, and Access Now, a global digital-rights organisation. Groups from Denmark, Italy and Belgium also signed.
The main warning is about effects outside Canada. The groups say the bill could force EU companies working in Canada to weaken encryption — the scrambling that keeps messages private — and to keep metadata, the basic records of who contacted whom and when, for European users. Another account frames it as letting a Canadian minister secretly order a European company to weaken the security of products used across the EU, according to Yahoo Tech.
What C-22 would require
Ottawa's bill is Bill C-22, formally titled An Act respecting lawful access. Its short title is the Lawful Access Act, 2026. It is before the 45th Parliament, 1st session, which runs from May 26, 2025 to the present.
As described in recent reporting, Bill C-22 would require telecom companies, internet companies and other digital service providers to change their systems. The aim is to provide surveillance and monitoring tools to police services and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.
Part 1 of the bill amends several Acts to modernize rules for the timely gathering and production of data and information, according to the legislative text published June 18. The bill also amends the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to set out and clarify powers to examine computer data.
The EU letter points to two orders in particular. The signatories call for removal of the surveillance-capability and metadata-retention orders. They say the order for telecoms and digital platforms to keep records of customer activity is "irreconcilable with EU law."
The timing is deliberate. Carney was scheduled to travel to Europe to pursue trade, investment and digital ties and to address the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Trade track and domestic pushback
The letter urged the EU to raise Bill C-22 in talks on a bilateral Canada-EU digital trade agreement. That agreement is meant to deepen integration of Canada and Europe's digital economies. Global Affairs Canada held a consultation last year on a possible deal covering cross-border data exchanges and harmonised artificial intelligence and cybersecurity rules.
Canada and the European Union already have a free trade agreement. In June 2025, the two sides were due to agree to a security and defence partnership. In March 2026, Canada's international trade minister said the European Union and the CPTPP had agreed to progress with a digital trade deal described as historic.
Ottawa has heard this before. Members of the U.S. Congress warned about the lawful-access bill in May. Google warned that Bill C-22 could create major cybersecurity risks. Meta issued a separate warning about the bill. MPs called on the minister to amend the legislation to prevent overreach.
Ottawa narrowed the scope of the lawful-access bill after outcry. The current text includes a proposed new power for Canadian police to request information from foreign electronic service providers.
A separate open letter from the Global Encryption Coalition, published in April 2026, stated the bill would expose Canadians and Canadian institutions to foreign surveillance and interference.
The broader context here is leverage. For officials who manage trade files, data governance is no longer a side file. Cross-border data rules, encryption standards and retention duties now sit beside tariffs and procurement as issues that can slow or shape a deal. Brussels guards its privacy laws closely, and any sense that Canadian law would require broad weakening of encryption or blanket retention will bring close attention from parliamentarians and regulators.
Looking at what this means for Ottawa, the file cuts across the usual domestic lines. Lawful access is federal criminal law and national security, areas where Parliament can legislate directly. The practical effects land elsewhere, on carriers, platforms, police services and, if the critics are right, on users outside Canada. That is why the debate has moved from committee rooms in Ottawa to Washington and now Strasbourg. Carney's Sept. 3 statement that Canada was ready for a U.S. trade deal that benefits both countries showed how many trade fronts are active at once. The EU letter adds another.
