Hon. Colin Deacon: Senator Pate, would you take a question?

Senator Pate: Absolutely.

Senator C. Deacon: Senator Pate, I am looking at the Correctional Service Canada mission. It says they contribute to the protection of society by actively encouraging and assisting offenders to become law-abiding citizens.

Do you know what key performance indicators they are monitoring to ensure they are fulfilling that mandate? Have you thought about the sorts of key performance indicators you would like to see to ensure that mission is fulfilled?

Senator Pate: In fact, Senator C. Deacon, Senator Forest-Niesing and I were working on a bill that I will likely be introducing coming forward that will hopefully try to address some of those very issues. I look forward to introducing those next week.

As you rightly point out, there aren’t necessarily performance indicators, but there certainly are principles and values that are supposed to be upheld by Correctional Service Canada. First and foremost is least restrictive measures and community integration as well as, of course, public safety and doing all of that within that construct.

As we learned when we examined Bill C-83, there is much work to be done in terms of holding accountable Correctional Service Canada in not just the most punitive areas of their work or the areas that are most restrictive, but across the board in the areas they work. Thank you.

Senator C. Deacon: Thank you.

(On motion of Senator Bernard, debate adjourned.)

Hon. Colin Deacon: Would the senator accept another question?

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Certainly.

Senator C. Deacon: You just focused on an important point: that the efforts be technology agnostic so that we leave the door open for many different approaches. Specifically, would it be helpful if we started to see greater leadership in the federal government around the implementation of digital identity so that this could be done more swiftly and seamlessly across jurisdictions in the country and, seeing the ability to verify and limit the information you’re sharing, verify your age online?

[Translation]

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Thank you for the question. I know that’s one of your major concerns. Digital identity is still in its infancy. Some companies offer the technology, but it isn’t very common.

However, it’s true that if it were to become a more widespread technology, there would most likely be less concern about what it enables us to do, which is control information shared with this or that company ourselves.

You and I both know that we share a lot of information every day. Why, then, if it takes just a few extra minutes to access a pornography site, would identity verification methods suddenly be seen as too great an imposition?

I believe that, at this point, technology enables us to be relatively secure in that regard. As you said, Senator Deacon, all these measures and all the protection they offer are set out in a bill that would regulate what’s required of companies with respect to erasing or encrypting data. All this could be covered by regulations, which do exist. However, we clearly need to enhance them and ensure that the system is appropriate for the 21st century.

[English]

Senator C. Deacon: Just to be clear, if the federal government started to show some leadership on the implementation of digital identity, it would be assisting the implementation of this work, correct? Thank you.

[Translation]

Senator Miville-Dechêne: Senator Deacon, you are putting words in my mouth.

It is clear that the government should indeed show leadership. You know, as I do, that a bill on this issue died on the Order Paper. It is time to resume these efforts because we are lagging behind.

We are lagging behind on the issue of age verification because it is difficult for people to understand that these verifications can be done while minimizing the infringement of privacy.

[English]