THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Sidewalk Toronto This undated photo provided by Sidewalk Toronto shows the eastern waterfront of Toronto. Ontario's former privacy commissioner has resigned from her consulting role at a company that is preparing to build a high-tech community at Toronto's waterfront, citing concerns that a privacy framework she developed is being overlooked.

TORONTO — Ontario's former privacy commissioner has resigned from her consulting role at a company that is preparing to build a high-tech community on Toronto's waterfront, becoming one of many to step away from the project due to concerns about how personal information and data will be managed. Ann Cavoukian resigned from Google sister company Sidewalk Labs on Friday after she said a privacy framework she developed was being overlooked when Sidewalk Labs said it couldn't guarantee people's personal information would be protected. "What I wanted was a wake up call," said Cavoukian of her resignation. Earlier: Alphabet gets approval to build high-tech neighbourhood in Toronto. Story continues below.

She wrote a letter of resignation following a meeting earlier in the week when Sidewalk Labs said while it agrees to follow her framework, called Privacy by Design, it cannot ensure that other companies involved in the project would do so as well. "I imagined us creating a Smart City of Privacy, as opposed to a Smart City of Surveillance," said Cavoukian in the letter. Critics say few details have been shared Last October, Waterfront Toronto announced it had chosen Sidewalk Labs to present a plan to design a high-tech neighbourhood for the Quayside development, which is along Toronto's eastern waterfront. Since then, the Alphabet Inc.-backed project has faced controversy because critics have complained that few details have been shared including how data will be collected, kept, accessed and protected. "It became clear that Sidewalk Labs would play a more limited role in near-term discussions about a data governance framework at Quayside," said a statement from Sidewalk Labs. "Sidewalk Labs has committed to implement, as a company, the principles of Privacy by Design. Though that question is settled, the question of whether other companies involved in the Quayside project would be required to do so is unlikely to be worked out soon, and may be out of Sidewalk Labs' hands."

Moe Doiron/The Globe and Mail via CP Then-privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian gestures during questioning at a legislative committee probing the gas plant scandal June 25, 2013 in Toronto.