PC-020007-1

On March 4, 2002, the provincial New Democratic Party (NDP) Caucus Services issued a press release to advise that two NDP Members of Provincial Parliament (MPP's) had received three complaints of document mishandling by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (the Ministry) in which personal information such as medical conditions, prescriptions and credit card receipts, had been sent to the wrong people. The press release indicated that two of the complaints involved the Trillium Drug Plan, while the third involved the Registration and Claims Branch. During a press conference, the NDP asked the Ontario Provincial Police (the OPP) to investigate these breaches of confidentiality, and turned over the relevant documentation to Queen's Park Security Service.

That same day, a journalist from the Queen's Park Bureau contacted the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario (the IPC) to discuss this incident, and subsequently published an article in a Toronto newspaper. On March 6, 2002, the IPC initiated a formal privacy complaint under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act).

• FIPPA
• Section 42
• 2(1)

• not in compliance