Page - 104 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE104 • oblige telecommunications and Big Data companies to furnish cellphone-based data for tracing COVID-19 case contacts; • implement bespoke privacy and confidentiality rules which are precisely tailored to the COVID-19 pandemic; and • create both a precedent and a template for future pandemics. We understand that others dislike these proposals, and that prov- inces will object. So what? Timely, effective epidemiological infor- mation is the sine qua non of saving lives from COVID-19—probably many thousands of them—and being ready for future pandemics. Epidemiological information alone does not ensure a successful pan- demic response of course, but its continued absence always guarantees failure. The choice is either to use legal tools already existing in statute and Supreme Court precedent, courageously, or to fashion Canada’s Constitution into the scaffold of our own demise.