Released on May 5, 2009
The personal information of individuals who owed fines to the Government of Saskatchewan was mistakenly attached to other documents and mailed to the wrong people.
The Provincial Privacy Commissioner has been notified that 136 collection letters from the Fine Collection Branch were attached to Notice of Conviction letters being mailed out by Court Services. The collection letters contained names, addresses, offence information and dates of birth.
Notice of Conviction letters are normally attached to a sheet that lists court locations. The reverse side of the collection letters shows the same courthouse list. This led to the collection letter being confused with the usual Notice of Conviction attachment sheet.
The Ministry of Justice was made aware of the error earlier today when recipients of the Notice of Conviction letter phoned about the extra document attached.
The Ministry has already made logistical changes and is working closely with the Privacy Commissioner's office to ensure this does not happen again. Ministry staff is in the process of contacting all those whose private information was improperly distributed.
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For more information, contact:
Lionel McNabb
Justice and Attorney General
Regina
Phone: 306-787-1650
Email: lionel.mcnabb@gov.sk.ca