Citizens’ Representative, Bradley Moss, and Information and Privacy Commissioner, Michael Harvey, call attention to the release of two national statements on vaccination passports.

The Federal, Provincial and Territorial Privacy Commissioners released a Joint Statement on Privacy and COVID-19 Vaccine Passports on May 19 and the Canadian Council of Parliamentary Ombudsman released Fairness Principles for Public Service Providers Regarding the Use of Vaccine Certification on May 26. Both documents provide considerations for the development or implementation of such a method to obtain goods or services. Some overlapping considerations include the importance of reviewing programs once developed, of complying with existing legal requirements such as privacy and human rights law, of ensuring independent oversight and of developing programs that ensure proportionality of privacy risks and program benefits.

“Vaccine passports have the potential to offer substantial public benefit,” notes Commissioner Harvey, “but they are asking people to reveal their health information in exchange for access to a premises or even the province or country. That is a lot to ask. They should only be implemented if their benefits are balanced against privacy rights. Each specific use should have clear legal authority, be necessary and effective in achieving the desired public health purpose, and the privacy risks must be proportionate to that purpose. Public and private sector entities considering the development or implementation of vaccine passports should review these resources.”

Citizens’ Representative Bradley Moss states: “The Office of the Citizens’ Representative recognizes the need for this type of document, but it runs the risk of generating confusion and complaints, so this statement of principles is a sort of a ‘slow down, be careful’ message to provincial public bodies under our jurisdiction, to ensure that processes are accessible, fair, transparent and subject to oversight. If the government decides to develop or use vaccine passports in order for people to access provincial public services, it is important that they ensure that administrative fairness is respected. Vaccine passports should not create oppressive or unreasonable barriers to obtaining public services based on an individual’s vaccination status.

The Commissioner and the Citizens’ Representative also consulted the Newfoundland and Labrador Human Rights Commission, which observed that any organization implementing a vaccine passport should remember that discrimination/harassment is prohibited against people with disabilities and people perceived to have disabilities. The duty to accommodate people still applies.

The Office of the Citizens’ Representative and the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner are statutory Offices of the House of Assembly.

The Office of the Citizens’ Representative provides a province-wide Ombudsman service for citizens with respect to their interactions with the provincial public service, and in doing so, works to ensure that citizens of the province are treated fairly in the acts and decisions of the departments, agencies, boards and commissions of the government scheduled to the Citizens’ Representative Act. The Office is also responsible for investigating public interest disclosures under both the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act, and the Public Interest Disclosure and Whistleblower Protection Act. In addition, the Office is responsible for investigations under the Harassment-Free Workplace Policy Applicable to Complaints Against Members of the House of Assembly effective April 1, 2020.

OIPC has a broad range of responsibilities and powers under both the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 (ATIPPA, 2015) and the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA). Oversight of these Acts includes conducting reviews of decisions and investigating and attempting to resolve complaints about access to information and protection of privacy involving public bodies under ATIPPA, 2015 and custodians of personal health information under PHIA. The Commissioner may also make recommendations in order to uphold the Acts and support better compliance.

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Media contacts
Sean Murray
Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
709-729-6309

Jocelyn Walsh
Office of the Citizens’ Representative
709-729-7647
citrep@gov.nl.ca