Sep 25 2019
Last week, my office issued a health privacy decision after investigating a complaint about a Toronto cosmetic surgery clinic use of video surveillance cameras in its examination and other rooms.
I was alerted to this possible violation of Ontario’s health privacy law by a reporter for CBC Mark...
Sep 23 2019
The Toronto Police Service received a freedom of information request from a woman who wanted photographs of her deceased son. The police decided to grant partial access, making an exception to the personal privacy exemption on compassionate grounds but removing the image of another person in the ...
Sep 17 2019
News stories and alerts about data breaches are popping up on our news feeds and social media channels with increased regularity. To help Ontario’s public sector organizations manage and prevent privacy breaches, the IPC has updated its guidance.
A privacy breach occurs when personal informatio...
Sep 12 2019
We’re heading to Sudbury for the next Reaching Out to Ontario event
I’m pleased to announce that the IPC executive team will visit Sudbury on Friday, October 11, to host our 11th Reaching Out to Ontario event, at Collège Boréal.
I look forward to visiting “Nickel City” and to updating O...
Aug 26 2019
With the new school year on the horizon, the IPC is educating the educators about their obligations when handling students’ confidential information.
School boards, educators, and administrators in Ontario’s public and separate school system are responsible for making sure their students’ p...
Aug 21 2019
Ontario’s freedom of information law is based on the principle that every individual has a right to access government information. This right exists to ensure the public has the information it needs to participate meaningfully in the democratic process, and that politicians and bureaucrats rema...
Aug 12 2019
Will my youth criminal record show up on my police record check now that I’m an adult? Can a prospective employer request a police record check on me without my knowledge? How will I know if an institution has disclosed my personal information to a law enforcement agency? These are some of th...
Jul 04 2019
Almost everyone with an email or instant messaging account has become used to receiving a seemingly never-ending stream of unsolicited messages. Commonly known as spam, some of these messages are “phishing attempts” where the intended goal is to get the recipient to do something that compromi...
Jun 27 2019
Today I released my 2018 annual report, Privacy and Accountability for a Digital Ontario, where I call for the modernization of Ontario’s privacy laws to address the risks posed by the increasing use of digital technologies.
Since my appointment as commissioner in 2015, I have emphasized the ne...
May 14 2019
May 14 is Youth in Care Day in Ontario. It is a day recognizing the bravery and resilience of current and former wards of the province or a children’s aid society.
There are currently about 12,000 children and youth in the care in Ontario. Growing up in foster care or group homes, they must nav...