Feds apologize for losing personal info on half a million Canadians

Published on February 14, 2013; Published on February 14, 2013
The Canadian Press

Topics :: RCMP , House of Commons , OTTAWA

OTTAWA — We’re sorry — and we’re trying to make sure it never happens again.

That’s the message from senior federal bureaucrats responsible for the loss of personal information belonging to more than half a million Canadians.

Human Resources and Development Canada lost an external hard drive and USB key last year, resulting in the massive privacy breach.

Both the RCMP and privacy commissioner are investigating and at least three class action lawsuits have been launched as a result.

Bureaucrats from the department apologized today in front of a House of Commons committee as they tried to explain what went wrong.

They say they’ve been monitoring for signs the data is being misused, but no fraud has been reported so far.

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Comments

jdavis

- February 15, 2013 at 02:53:20

The may have said their apology for the first breach but what about the letters informing the victims that went to the wrong address. Isn't that also a breach of privacy??? Letters intendedfor NL&L were sentto people in Ontario.Student numbers with address were sent to the wrong provinces.

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newfie

- February 14, 2013 at 17:17:55

You know what you can do with that apology. The breach happened in November and I didnt receive a letter until February and January is when they made it public. Do you guys even know how much damage could have been cause in those couple months.

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sorry aint going to cut it

- February 14, 2013 at 16:35:44

Sorry, just don't cut it ...

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Keanman

- February 14, 2013 at 16:30:52

It's going to take more than an apology. My information was lost and I want to see heads roll in the department that is responsible for this breach. I also want to see heads roll in regards to how long it took HRDC to inform the public that the information was lost. More than 2 months is just a slap in the face. If people are not fired over this major privacy breach, the people of this country have been done an incredible injustice. They say that they are trying to make sure this never happens again to which I say, why was it not already done? In this day and age of privacy protection and major privacy breaches, people need to know they can at least count on their goverment to ensure their information is safe. I am beyond disgusted with this government.

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