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On May 4, 2026, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) released new guidance on age assurance technologies following an extensive public consultation. Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne announced the guidance during his keynote address at the IAPP Canada Symposium in Toronto, marking the start of Privacy Awareness Week 2026. The age assurance guidance documents are designed for operators of websites and online services as well as age assurance developers. The guidance advises organizations on assessing when age assurance should or must be used, and outlines design features and privacy considerations that should be addressed when implementing and designing age assurance systems. The Commissioner emphasizes that age assurance can advance the goal of creating a safer online experience for children while mitigating potential adverse impacts on privacy. Alongside the age assurance guidance, the OPC published additional materials supporting children's privacy protection. These include a report summarizing feedback from a consultation on developing a Canadian Children's Privacy Code, which focuses on ensuring private-sector organizations implement strong safeguards and transparent practices for children's personal information. The OPC also published reports from focus groups and a youth summit held in November 2025 in collaboration with researchers from the University of Ottawa and McGill University, which gathered insights from Canadian youth on their online experiences and digital privacy concerns. The OPC simultaneously released findings from its latest survey of Canadian businesses on privacy-related issues, indicating that 91 percent of businesses report taking steps to comply with Canada's privacy laws, while 84 percent maintain a privacy policy. The full survey report will be published on the OPC website in the coming weeks. REFERENCES: Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. (2026). Privacy Commissioner of Canada launches new age assurance guidance to support organizations. Retrieved from https://www.priv.gc.ca/