Sask.'s new privacy commissioner on her office's role in an era of AI
Grace Hession David brings a wealth of experience as a Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer to the new positon
Saskatchewan's new information and privacy commissioner says a life-long passion for serving as a check on government power will help her excel in the new role.
Grace Hession David said in an interview Thursday that she always wanted to be a lawyer and has been privileged enough to serve as a Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer in Ontario. She's even argued cases in front of the Supreme Court of Canada.
David said her passion developed early.
"I was fascinated as a young child by the Watergate hearings and by the fact that a judge could subpoena the president of the United States and say, 'hand over the information,'" David said.
"We live in a democracy, but government needs checks and that's the role of this office."
Big shoes to fill
As the province's information and privacy commissioner, David will serve as the face of an office responsible for protecting people's private information, while monitoring the laws around government disclosure to the public.
David acknowledged that she has big shoes to fill. Her predecessor, Ron Kruzeniski, spent more than a decade in the role and built up an office of experts — many of whom will be able to provide their institutional knowledge to David.
"We're a team," she said.
David said her interest in cybersecurity developed from a case she helped prosecute in Toronto.
An organized gang was able to breach the security of the five main banks in Canada by joining their bank accounts with the accounts of elderly victims, then wiping out the accounts.
"This is a huge fraud," David said. "We couldn't ever really put a number on it, but it was in the millions."
David said it made her realize the vulnerability we all face in a digitally connected world.
Artificial intelligence a top concern
In David's interview with CBC and in her first annual report, the new commissioner stressed her concern with the "rapidly developing consequences of technology in every area of our lives in this province."
Artificial intelligence and its unintended consequences are among her top concerns and David hopes she can educate the general public about the topic.
"The traditional model of people saying to the government, 'I want to know what you have on me,' for sure that's always going to be there. We always are going to deal with that," she said. "But as we go into these new eras of technology, this is something that everybody has to be concerned about and everybody has to understand."
While she is still settling into her role, David said she believes she has the ability to be an advocate and a defender of rights.
One concern is the lack of power to give orders. The commissioner can provide recommendations after reviewing a government's response to an information request, but can't compel a government body to hand information over.
David said that "in a perfect world," her office would be equipped with that tool.
"I also am a realist and I realize that we don't have it today and so that's the four corners within which we work," she said.
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