Protection of Personal Information (April 14)
Mr. Kang: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The sensitive private information of 7,000 Edmonton public school board employees has gone missing.
The data was stored with no security protection on a memory stick. The Information and Privacy Commissioner has said that the information should not even have been kept in the first place. To the Minister of Service Alberta: can the minister, who is responsible for privacy legislation in Alberta, tell us what action she has taken to actively promote the protection of personal information by school boards in the last year?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mrs. Klimchuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It should be noted that the Edmonton public school board is following the right procedure with respect to the loss of information by notifying the Privacy Commissioner and co-operating with the investigation. That’s the first step in this. They’ve let the affected employees know what’s missing and are providing them with other details on protecting themselves. The school board does have strong policies to protect private information, but sometimes errors do happen.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Mr. Kang: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It should have been done before the information went missing.
Given that the minister disbanded the government’s access and privacy division, which was responsible for province-wide compliance with privacy laws, for supporting the local public sector, can the minister explain who is supposed to do this now?
Mrs. Klimchuk: Mr. Speaker, there are privacy commissioners in every government department. As well, Service Alberta offers all the school boards information on understanding their obligations with working with FOIP. Also, we have resources available online. It’s incumbent upon the school boards to do the right thing, and they are doing that right now.
The Speaker: The hon. member.
Mr. Kang: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the minister commit to collecting and reporting the cost to taxpayers of privacy breaches given that the Information and Privacy Commissioner has said that the privacy breaches are a big-ticket item for public bodies and that he will ask for an accounting of the costs of dealing with the breach?
The Speaker: The hon. minister.
Mrs. Klimchuk: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I believe that at the end of the day all of us need to be cautious when handling Albertans’ private information, especially with laptops and portable iPads and all of those things. It’s just absolutely critical that Albertans protect themselves. The Edmonton public school board is checking into it, and we’ll continue to support them through Service Alberta.
Alberta Hansard, April 14, 2011