The Newfoundland and Labrador Information and Privacy Commissioner Michael Harvey was proud to host the annual meeting of the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Information and Privacy Commissioners in St. John’s on September 19-21, 2022. This was the first face-to-face meeting of Commissioners since 2019 and the meeting involved presentations from several experts and valuable discussions on topics of mutual interest.

Commissioner Harvey is proud to announce, as an outcome of the meeting, the issuance of a Joint Resolution on Securing Public Trust in Digital Healthcare, endorsed by all of Canada’s Privacy Commissioners[1].

In recent years new technologies have become available that involve both novel ways of providing care, including virtual care, as well as modern methods of collecting, storing and using personal health information. This trend has meant that the health sector is a more data rich environment than it has ever been before. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend both to expand the reach of clinical care through virtual means and to use technology to find efficiencies in a highly burdened health care system.

Protecting sensitive personal health information is critical to maintaining Canadians’ trust in the health system. If properly designed, selected and implemented, modern technologies provide the potential for greater privacy protection. The health sector has been notorious for using outdated and vulnerable technologies, such as faxes and unencrypted email, threatening to erode the public’s confidence that their personal health information is secure. Adoption of modern digital communications systems can improve privacy and security and increase the public’s trust in their health care system.

Commissioners therefore made a series of recommendations to governments and health care providers to modernize their health information systems and legislative frameworks so that they meet the privacy principles that are enshrined in health information statutes across the country as well as meeting the high standard of protection against breaches – both intentional and unintentional – that Canadians have a right to expect. For their own part, Commissioners are committed to collaboration with stakeholders in the sector, and engaging with the public, about technological change in digital health communications.

Commissioner Harvey states that “Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are particularly sensitive to matters related to the privacy and security of their health information following the cyber attack on our health system last year. While my investigation into that attack is ongoing and I anticipate making recommendations by the end of the year, it is already apparent that modernization of our digital health systems to meet a high standard of privacy protection is critical. This is true across the board in the health sector, where technological change creates both risks and opportunities for privacy and security. I encourage governments, health care organizations and providers to consider our joint recommendations as we move forward to build the public’s trust while improving their care.”

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Media contact
Sean Murray
Director of Research and Quality Assurance
709-729-6309

[1] In New Brunswick and Manitoba, the privacy oversight role is performed by the Ombudsperson. Also, the Information Commissioner of Canada, while a member of this FPT table, did not endorse this resolution as it relates to privacy matters.