Canada's Quiet Embrace of a Global Surveillance Pact: The UN Cybercrime Convention's Hidden Costs

Canada's Quiet Embrace of a Global Surveillance Pact: The UN Cybercrime Convention's Hidden Costs

Canada slipped into the ranks of signatories to the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime in mid-July 2026. Few noticed. Parliament sat empty for the summer. No press conference. No parliamentary debate. Just a terse announcement from three ministers and a short statement filed at the signing registry. The move caught observers off guard. Until days earlier, Canada had stood with the United States, Japan and New Zealand in refusing to sig…

Kate Robertson on the Risks That Lie Behind Canada’s Unexpected Signing of the UN Cybercrime Convention

Earlier this month, the Canadian government announced that it had signed the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime.  Speaking with Michael Geist of Law Bytes, senior research associate Kate Robertson argues that the convention is a cross-border surveillance and electronic evidence sharing agreement that Canada originally opposed, which carries significant adverse implications around the world for human rights and internet freedom. The abu…