Provincial health officials haven’t done enough to protect British Columbians’ personal health information from abuse and hacking despite knowing about vulnerabilities for years, a new investigation from the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has found. A 2019 internal risk assessment found the Provincial Public Health Information System, run by the Provincial Health Services Authority, lacked […]

YELLOWKNIFE — A privacy breach affecting people who stayed at a COVID-19 isolation centre is the latest in a long line of cases of health information being mishandled in the Northwest Territories. Late last week, the N.W.T. Department of Health and Social Services issued notice of the “low-risk” breach involving about 2,000 COVID-19 isolation forms, […]

VICTORIA — Sensitive personal health records of British Columbia residents, from mental health to sexually transmitted disease histories, are “disturbingly” vulnerable to leaks, the provincial privacy watchdog says. Information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy says in a report released by his office Thursday that security gaps in the public health computer system put it at […]

LAMONT, Alta. — An Alberta health-care worker has been sentenced for taking and sharing photos of long-term care residents, including one that was distorted with a filter. The Lamont Health Care Centre reported the matter to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, which laid charges last year under the province’s Health Information Act. The […]

TORONTO — The Ontario government says it is notifying about 360,000 people whose personal information was involved in a vaccine database breach more than a year ago. The breach happened on Nov. 16, 2021 and the Ontario Provincial Police charged two people, including an employee of the province’s vaccine contact centre. Since then, the government says it […]

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The association representing doctors in Newfoundland and Labrador is looking for answers after it discovered the province agreed to pay a private telemedicine company more than double what it pays family doctors for consultations. The Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association found a contract between the provincial government and Fonemed among the […]

OTTAWA — The federal prison needle exchange program is failing because of a poor rollout by the Correctional Service of Canada and a lack of improvement since it was introduced four years ago, health advocates say. Inmates at nine of the 43 federal prisons have had access to sterile equipment for drug use since the […]