TfD Weekly - 16th September 2026
Save the date for TfD's next Film Club! This week at Civic Tech Toronto, Cross-Country Day of Action for Migrant Rights this Sunday & our Waymo Webinar entered the podcast sphere
Welcome to TfD Weekly
TfD Weekly is the newsletter of Technologists for Democracy (TfD), a Toronto-based civic tech organisation working at the intersection of technology, privacy, and democratic accountability. Each week we recap what's happening at Civic Tech Toronto, share updates on our campaigns, and keep an eye on legislation that affects Canadians' digital rights.
Our active campaigns:
Previous campaigns:
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This Week at Civic Tech Toronto
Topic: Unnecessary and Disproportionate: Bill C-22 and Lawful Access
Bill C-22 is an omnibus bill with many moving parts. The aspects that drew the attention of our speaker surrounded privacy, surveillance and data collection. Most provisions in Bill C-22 fail two basic tests for surveillance powers: that they are truly necessary, and that they use the least intrusive means available. This talk presents findings from a joint brief by the Citizen Lab and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Read the brief: (Un)forced Errors by Cynthia Khoo, Tamir Israel, and Kate Robertson.
If this topic is important to you, we would like to invite you to sign the petition against Bill C-22.
Speaker: Cynthia Khoo
Cynthia Khoo is a technology and human rights lawyer based in Toronto, and a Senior Fellow at the Citizen Lab. Her legal practice and research focuses on how digital technologies impact the equality, privacy, and free expression rights of historically marginalized groups.
Website: tekhnoslaw.ca
Bluesky: cyn-k.bsky.social
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Say No to Waymo: On the Road
Our webinar guest Earla Phillips joined The Rideshare Zone podcast to talk about TfD's Say No to Waymo campaign and the threat Waymo poses to workers in the GTA.
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Community Events
This Sunday: Cross-Country Day of Action for Migrant Rights
Many in TfD and the tech scene are grateful for the chance to start a new life in Canada. But every day we see fellow migrant workers being scapegoated for problems across society. With the future of Canadian immigration being a renewed focus of policy in the coming months, we want to show parliament that we stand for people who enrich every facet of life here.
Demonstrations take place across Canada this Sunday, September 20th.
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Film Club: Save The Date!
We've got the much-anticipated second instalment of our film club coming up! We'll share the details with you really soon, make sure you're subscribed to our Luma to get the notification the moment it's live.
Keep your evening on the 16th of October free for a friendly night of special programming.
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Find Us Online
Follow TfD on Mastodon:
Technologists for Democracy (@[email protected]) - TheCanadian.Social
7 Posts, 24 Following, 72 Followers · We are Canadians keeping tech accountable. Canadians using technology towards better democracy for all
Follow TfD on LinkedIn: Technologists for Democracy
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Follow TfD on Bluesky: techfordemocracy.bsky.social
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Technologists for Democracy is a community of Canadians who work with technology towards better democracy for all. Learn more at techfordemocracy.ca