Institution
Who holds the power?
Police services, governments, courts, regulators, corrections, border agencies, and the bodies meant to oversee them.
Independent public-interest research · Canada
Making public-sector surveillance observable.
IPSSA is an independent Canadian research institute studying how public bodies acquire and use surveillance, artificial intelligence, biometrics, and data-intensive systems.
SurveillanceArtificial intelligenceProcurementPolicingPublic recordsOversight
01 / Mandate
Governments increasingly exercise power through databases, algorithms, sensors, private vendors, and information-sharing networks.
The public is expected to trust systems it cannot see.
02 / Research approach
Follow the system.
Not just the scandal.
IPSSA studies the full chain around a public-sector system—not only the moment it becomes controversial.
System
What has been built?
Facial recognition, body-camera AI, location tracking, automated decisions, data brokers, biometrics, and shared databases.
Supply chain
Who made it possible?
Contracts, pilots, renewals, vendors, cloud infrastructure, acquisitions, and the procurement choices that become policy.
Accountability
Where does responsibility go?
Authority claimed, data retained, findings made, appeals pursued, corrections issued—and the gaps between them.
Current research line / Security continuum
Public authority.
Private infrastructure.
Canadian security is no longer contained inside a police service—or even inside the state.
Private guards perform functions once associated with public police. Special constables carry selected public powers while remaining tied to an employer. Police, the RCMP, and the Canadian Armed Forces procure data, cloud capacity, sensors, and analytic systems from private companies. People, practices, and technologies move across those boundaries more easily than accountability does.
This is not a claim of one coordinated conspiracy. It is a research question about a connected system: who supplies the labour, who grants the power, who owns the infrastructure, and which oversight regime follows each transfer?
PeoplePrivate security↔Special constables↔Police / RCMP↔CAF
PowerContract→Appointment→Statute→Command
AgenciesLocal police↔RCMP / CBSA↔CSIS / CSE↔CAF / DND
IPSSA asks at every crossingDid oversight move with the capability?
Why this is a researchable structure
Statistics Canada documented private-security employment exceeding public-police employment. Public Safety Canada later found private firms performing traditional police functions while expansion outpaced empirical evaluation and oversight design. Ontario law provides an employer-linked route for special-constable powers. Federal records document integrated RCMP, CSIS, CBSA, police, and defence structures, statutory information sharing, multi-vendor cloud procurement, and major investment in military intelligence and surveillance systems.
Statistics CanadaPublic Safety CanadaInformation disclosure lawFederal cloud suppliersCanadian Army LC4ISR
The flagship program
Public-Sector
Surveillance
Observatory
A living map connecting institutions to the technology they acquire, the companies that supply it, the authority claimed for its use, and the evidence available to the public.
Contribute a record ↗OBSERVATORY / RESEARCH FRAMECANADA — ALL JURISDICTIONS
INSTITUTIONTECHNOLOGYVENDORAUTHORITYDATAOVERSIGHT
Primary documentsComparable fieldsRevision history
03 / Research standard
Evidence should
survive scrutiny.
Every material claim keeps a trail back to its source.
Allegations, findings, appeals, reversals, and unresolved matters remain distinct.
Common structures reveal patterns that isolated incidents cannot.
Challenges, review, changes, and revision history remain visible.
“Transparency is not a data dump. It is an understandable account of power.”
04 / Research agenda
Questions we are
building to answer.
The programme begins with foundational records: what exists, who authorized it, how it was acquired, and what public evidence supports the account.
Security-continuum mapping People · powers · infrastructureSurveillance technology registry Institutions · systems · useProcurement and vendor mapping Contracts · pilots · renewalsAccess-to-information performance Delay · exemptions · outcomesPolice accountability systems Findings · discipline · appeals
Independent · Evidence-led · Public interest
05 / About IPSSA
Research for
the public record.
IPSSA is being developed as an independent Canadian research institute focused on public-sector surveillance and institutional accountability. Its first programme is the Public-Sector Surveillance Observatory.
IPSSA works alongside PoliceData.ca and Accountability. The organizations may share public records and expertise; each publishes under its own name, methods, and responsibility.