A couple years ago, I asked Michael Geist[1] a similar question.
Me: I am a Canadian citizen and am rather concerned by what appears to be increasing online censorship and erosion of privacy rights in Australia and the UK. If it can happen there, it can happen here. I'd like to do my part to ensure that we can effectively oppose bad public policy when it's proposed in Canada. I deeply respect both the EFF and the ACLU for their work in the United States, but I'm not familiar with equivalent organizations for Canada. Do you have any suggestions as to where should I be sending my holiday donations?
Michael Geist: Thanks for your note. There are several groups in Canada that do great work on these issues:
1. CIPPIC - the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (cippic.ca). I founded this tech law clinic at the University of Ottawa, the only one of its kind in Canada.
2. Open Media - based in Vancouver
3. CCLA - the Canadian Civil Liberties Association
4. CJFE - Canadian Journalists for Freedom of Expression
Not exactly, but the University of Toronto Citizen Lab is pretty close: https://citizenlab.ca/
It's not all domestic oriented, they do a lot of research on internet censorship internationally, and other things that fall into the category of "government interference with the internet".
"The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, focusing on research, development, and high-level strategic policy and legal engagement at the intersection of information and communication technologies, human rights, and global security.
We use a “mixed methods” approach to research combining practices from political science, law, computer science, and area studies. Our research includes: investigating digital espionage against civil society, documenting Internet filtering and other technologies and practices that impact freedom of expression online, analyzing privacy, security, and information controls of popular applications, and examining transparency and accountability mechanisms relevant to the relationship between corporations and state agencies regarding personal data and other surveillance activities."
It really needs one. Cory Doctorow went to work for the EFF despite being Canadian probably because the Canadian analogues are pretty weak and disorganized by comparison.
Open Media is pretty good at social media and pressure campaigns.
The BCCLA is top notch if you actually need to win a court case. When they take on a case they don't fuck around, and they have high powered lawyers working pro-bono for them.
The great thing about the EFF is they're not as narrowly focused. Open Media is pretty good, but they pick their fights more carefully and don't tackle social or ethical issues the same was the EFF does.
