Vancouver, December 18, 2019 –  Yesterday, LifeLabs announced a data breach that affects 15 million Canadians. The breach, which primarily impacts clients in BC and Ontario, includes highly sensitive personal information, like medical diagnostic test results and genetic information. The information was breached on October 28, 2019. LifeLabs has paid an unreported sum to cybercriminals […]

MEDIA RELEASE BC Government has big surplus, but no plans to compensate victims of PharmaNet breach FIPA urges the Ministry of Health to pick up ID theft mitigation costs Vancouver, February 20, 2017 – After the recent PharmaNet privacy breach, which victimized 7,500 British Columbians, it is astounding that the Ministry of Health has not […]

Many questions remain after Commissioner addresses FOI complaint relating to controversial Ministry of Health firings VANCOUVER, September 10, 2015 – The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association (FIPA) is raising concerns that RCMP or other files could be left open indefinitely, thereby avoiding requests under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. […]

Below are the submissions and supporting affidavits from FIPA and the BC Government in the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) Hearing in March 2014, which resulted in Order F14-45. Submissions: FIPA intial submissions FIPA reply submission BC Government reply submission BC Government initial submission Affidavits: Taylor Affidavit Johnson Affidavit Madden Affidavit Email […]

W. Taylor Affidavit S. Johnson Affidavit Email from Sgt Cowan RCMP Exhibit A

It took two years, but the records requested by FIPA in 2012 regarding contracts and other records related to the mysterious Ministry of Health data breach case have finally been released and are posted on our website. FIPA had requested the following information: Data sharing and other agreements involving the Ministry and four named individuals; […]

NEWS RELEASE December 15, 2014 FIPA finally gets Ministry of Health records after two year battle   VANCOUVER, December 15, 2014—The records requested by the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association in 2012 regarding contracts and other records related to the mysterious Ministry of Health data breach case have finally been released. They are […]

What is the BC Services Card? It’s an ID card that combines both the drivers license and the provincial health care card.   Is that all it does? Doesn’t sound too scary to me. Right now that is all it does. However, it is a key part of the ‘Government 2.0’ plan, which will link […]

In a report released earlier today, B.C.’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham finally opens the door on last year’s data breach at the Ministry of Health and finds “a number of weaknesses in Ministry controls over personal information.” Denham’s report doesn’t mince words. During her investigation, she found “a complete lack of monitoring, enforcement […]

FIPA has created a website called “Health Information Privacy in British Columbia” to fill a serious lack of information available to the public about their health privacy rights as the province moves toward a universal system of government- controlled electronic health records. British Columbia has launched a multi-million dollar program to create an electronic health […]

Canada Health Infoway’s plans for highly-centralized electronic health records (EHR) systems within each province containing patient records that can be shared nationwide may not be feasible, a chorus of experts says. That “shared record” model which Infoway has adopted was in large part discredited and discarded in the United Kingdom, note the critics, who say […]

Charities, non-profit groups and privacy advocates have joined forces to issue a critical report on the $180 million Integrated Case Management (ICM) project the BC government announced in February’s Throne Speech. The planned ICM system will collect comprehensive personal data from hundreds of independent community service organizations which are contracted to provide government services, in […]