Queen’s University Professor Arthur Cockfield’s provided a comprehemsive report to the Privacy Commissioner in April on FATCA and the Erosion  of Canadian Taxpayer Privacy.

In his 36 page report, Professor Cockfield reviews numerous laws, practices and policies. He says:

FATCA and the IGA unduly harm the privacy interests and rights of Canadians in part because detailed financial information concerning hundreds of thousands of Canadians would be transferred to a foreign government for the first time…The Canadian government should not implement the IGA until these privacy concerns are addressed.

Professor Cockfield looks at various laws and practices. He briefly addresses some Charter issues:

The  IGA may violate section 15 of the  Charter that prohibits discrimination  on  the  grounds  of  national  origin  (including  citizenship).  As  discussed  in  this report,  the  IGA  discriminates  against  US  citizens  (and  others)  residing  in  Canada  by  offering  unequal  treatment  of  these  individuals  (see  Part  VI.G.).    A  criminal  investigation  calls  for constitutional law protections afforded by the  Charter of Rights and Freedoms including section 8, which restricts unreasonable searches and seizures.75 A demand for tax information may also  violate an individual’s right to remain silent under section 7 of the Charter.76 If the United States.
 

Professor Cockfield concludes:

Accordingly,  the  IGA  and  the  Implementing  Act  do  not  protect  the  privacy  rights  and interests of Canadians. Bill C-31, the proposed law to implement FATCA  that at this writing is before Parliament, needs to be amended to account for these privacy concerns. Until the privacy and  other  concerns  are  studied  and  addressed  by  Canadian  lawmakers,Canada  should  only  transfer FATCA required data associated with U.S. persons who are not Canadian residents. This approach   accords   with   longstanding   practice   and   emerging   global   information   exchange standards. The government should take immediate steps to ensure this standard is codified in Bill C-31.  This  move  would  safeguard  the  privacy  rights  of  Canadians  while  enabling  Canada  to work  cooperatively  on  a  global  scale  to  ensure  that  tax  evaders—American,  Canadian,  or otherwise—do not have a safe haven anywhere.

Professor Cockfield is on the panel with me next week, along with a Candian-American tax lawyer based in New York.
Many thanks to Badger for this great find.  I did a quick speed read. If Badger would like to do one of her thorough and thoughtful analyses, that would be greatly welcome.