The Human Pathogens and Toxins Act (, HPTA) is an Act of the

Parliament of Canada The Parliament of Canada () is the Canadian federalism, federal legislature of Canada. The Monarchy of Canada, Crown, along with two chambers: the Senate of Canada, Senate and the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, form the Bicameral ...

, agreed in 2009 under the

Harper government The premiership of Stephen Harper began on February 6, 2006, when the first Cabinet headed by Stephen Harper was sworn in by Governor General Michaelle Jean. Harper was invited to form the 28th Canadian Ministry and become Prime Minister of ...

. The responsible Minister is the

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

, and the text defines punishment under the

Criminal Code of Canada The ''Criminal Code'' () is a law of the Parliament of Canada that codifies most, but not all, criminal offences and criminal procedure in Canada. Its official long title is ''An Act respecting the Criminal Law'' (French: ). It is indexed in t ...

. The control of security clearances is the exclusive domain of the Minister of Health; neither the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

nor the CSIS are mentioned anywhere in the Act. Section 7 of the Act does mention the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act and the Export and Import Permits Act as falling outside the scope of the HPTA. __TOC__

History

It came to light in June 2021 during the disgrace of Xiangguo Qiu that the

Public Health Agency of Canada The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC; ) is an agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic disease control and prevention. History The PHAC was f ...

requires "anyone working with human pathogens and toxins" at the

National Microbiology Laboratory The National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) is part of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the agency of the Government of Canada that is responsible for public health, health emergency preparedness and response, and infectious and chronic ...

(or elsewhere) to "have clearance under the HPTA." The

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

reporter was under the impression that another "secret level clearance" is required to work at the NML but does not disclose the name nor the controller of this additional clearance.

References

Canadian federal legislation Health Canada 40th Canadian Parliament Infectious diseases Canadian biotechnology law Environmental law in Canada {{Canada-law-stub