Exclusive: House GOP warns Canada its new cybersecurity bill could pose privacy risks to Americans

The House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees sent a letter to Canada's Minister of Public Safety on Thursday, expressing concern that a new cybersecurity bill making its way through the country's legislature could pose privacy and security risks to Americans.

The Canadian parliament is currently considering the "Lawful Access Act of 2026," also referred to as Bill C-22, which looks to modernize how Canadian law enforcement investigates serious threats in cyber investigations.

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan and House Foreign Affairs Chairman Brian Mast said the letter is part of their oversight of actions by foreign governments that threaten to weaken the security, privacy, and constitutional rights of American citizens.

"Canada’s Bill C-22, currently under consideration in Parliament, would drastically expand Canada’s surveillance and data access powers in ways that create significant cross-border risks to the security and data privacy of Americans," the lawmakers wrote in the letter, which was shared with Just The News exclusively. "We write to express our concerns that, if enacted, Bill C-22 would allow Canadian government officials to compel American companies to build backdoors into their encrypted systems, thereby introducing systemic vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers, foreign adversaries, and cybercriminals."

The chairmen expressed concern over the vagueness of the language in the bill and the power it gives Canadian Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree to issue "secret ministerial orders," which would only be subject to the review of the Intelligence Commissioner.

The men claimed that the United States is already seeing the consequences of similar laws in the United Kingdom, where its government allegedly issued a "secret order" to Apple, which is an American company, to give them access to users’ encrypted cloud data.

"If a U.S. based provider is forced to redesign its system to facilitate Canadian authorized access to content that is currently inaccessible even to the provider itself, the resulting capability cannot be geographically limited," they wrote. "This directly threatens the privacy of U.S. persons who expect and depend upon robust encryption to protect sensitive communications, health data, financial records, and personal correspondence from unwarranted intrusion."

The lawmakers urged Canada to work with the U.S. to protect American data, suggesting that the countries create an agreement under the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act of 2018, which allows U.S. law enforcement to compel American technology companies to provide data via subpoenas regardless of whether the data is stored within or outside the U.S.

"The United States and Canada maintain a close partnership in matters of security, intelligence cooperation, and cross-border law enforcement," the lawmakers concluded. "We look forward to your prompt collaboration on this issue, with the goal of safeguarding the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.