Presumably written before it became completely clear that Canada’s government is on the wrong side of that fight, as seen in the news today:
“The legislative proposal continues to grant the government discretion to issue broad orders in secret compelling our most secure digital communication tools to bypass, circumvent or weaken critical security protocols to facilitate surveillance. Bill C-22, if passed as is, is a blank check for the government to force its surveillance objectives onto service providers at cost to the privacy and cybersecurity of everyone in Canada.”
The Government of Canada does not respect your rights as a human, in turn, I do not respect their authority to govern my use of technology.
Move to an encrypted email provider that does not have servers in Canada. Set up an account with a VPN that does not have servers in Canada. Plan ahead for a way to pay for these services that do no use Canadian currency.
Alice and Bob both use encrypted email -> communication is safe.
Alice uses encrypted email, Bob is in a country over which Alice’s adversary has no jurisdiction and Bob uses a regular email service -> communication is safe.
Alice uses encrypted email, Bob uses regular email but Alice’s adversary has no idea that Alice talks with Bob because she is the only one being watched -> communication is safe.
Significant email metadata and routing information cannot be encrypted. All the typical email tools a user might try to use will work against their attempts to remain secure. It’s a typical situation when security is retrofitted to an insecure interface. There are use cases for encrypted email but in 2026 it’s hard to find one that isn’t better served some other way.
Presumably written before it became completely clear that Canada’s government is on the wrong side of that fight, as seen in the news today:
The Government of Canada does not respect your rights as a human, in turn, I do not respect their authority to govern my use of technology.
Move to an encrypted email provider that does not have servers in Canada. Set up an account with a VPN that does not have servers in Canada. Plan ahead for a way to pay for these services that do no use Canadian currency.
Encrypted email is the most pokiness thing. Send an email to anyone not on their server and it is plaintext and anyone can read it.
Alice and Bob both use encrypted email -> communication is safe.
Alice uses encrypted email, Bob is in a country over which Alice’s adversary has no jurisdiction and Bob uses a regular email service -> communication is safe.
Alice uses encrypted email, Bob uses regular email but Alice’s adversary has no idea that Alice talks with Bob because she is the only one being watched -> communication is safe.
Significant email metadata and routing information cannot be encrypted. All the typical email tools a user might try to use will work against their attempts to remain secure. It’s a typical situation when security is retrofitted to an insecure interface. There are use cases for encrypted email but in 2026 it’s hard to find one that isn’t better served some other way.