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Government Accepts Privacy Commissioner's Report

Released on August 18, 2015

Premier Brad Wall today said his government accepts the recommendations of the report released today by Saskatchewan’s Information and Privacy Commissioner into the disclosure of some employment information of Saskatoon care aid worker Peter Bowden.

The Commissioner found that the Ministry of Health, the Saskatoon Regional Health Authority (SRHA) and Oliver Lodge, a long-term care home in Saskatoon, collected and disclosed personal information without proper authority.

The Commissioner found that the disclosure of information to the news media by the SRHA was in the public interest as defined by The Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (LAFOIP) and that The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) did not apply to personal information disclosed by the Premier’s office and Minister of Health’s office.

The Commissioner made a number of recommendations to the Government, including:
  • that the privacy protection provisions of FOIP be extended to apply to offices of Ministers and MLAs;
  • that training programs be developed for Ministers and MLAs to inform them of best practices for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information; and 
  • that the protection of The Public Interest Disclosure Act be extended to employees of regional health authorities and health care organizations.
“I think the Commissioner’s recommendations make sense and are measures our government can support,” Wall said.  “While I continue to believe that the disclosure of some information by my office was in the public interest, these events have shown there is a lack of clarity and understanding when it comes to when and how personal information can be collected and disclosed.  We will be working to improve that clarity and understanding through the Commissioner’s recommendations.”

Wall said he and his office could have been more circumspect in their actions.

“I had made a very public commitment that no health worker would ever be disciplined for raising concerns about the health system and I had made that commitment specifically to this care aide,” Wall said.  “It was important to ensure and to demonstrate that commitment was being followed.

“That said, more time and consideration could have been given to the process through which the information could have been released.  The Commissioner has now given us a clearer test of what is necessary to constitute a public interest disclosure and we will be guided by this in the future.”

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For more information, contact:

Kathy Young
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-0425
Email: kathy.young@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-526-8927

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