The following are letters I’ve
written and/or copied to the Minister of Crown Corporations (5 in total). To date, I've received no response
whatsoever from his office regarding these matters.
If you or someone you know has
received similar treatment from this official/government, please contact me in this respect. I'm compiling a list of such
instances and plan to present these to the Premier's office, the opposition, as well as the media.
(Note: If you have difficulty
reading the following letters, click on them to enlarge)
________________________
For nearly 3 months the Board/Chair at WCB had refused to respond to my letters concerning WCB's privacy violations.
In an effort to garner a response, the following email was sent to various Labour Organisations, Unions, and Chambers
of Commerce. Given the information released by WCB included my employer's
confidential (sealed tender) bids on crown contracts, it was also copied to the Minister of Crown Corporations:
Subject: Fw: Breach of Privacy (Att: SK Chamber of Commerce)
Thomas Brown
1114-C Blackwood St. N.
Regina, SK. S4X 3E5
February 3, 2008
To Whom It May
Concern:
Re: Breach of Privacy
I am writing you in
regards to serious privacy violations on the part of the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board. As this type
of breach involves employers and employees alike, I believe it should be of concern to your administration.
As evidenced in a recent letter tothe SK Privacy Commissioner
(see link below), WCB’s Solicitor/Privacy Officer has unquestionably breached the privacy of several individuals, on
2 separate occasions. In both instances the personal financial information of several employees was disclosed to unauthorised
third parties, as well as the corporate financial information of an employer/WCB stakeholder.
I have contacted the Minister Responsible for WCB/Labour regarding these privacy breaches, as well as the Board
at WCB. Given these officials are mandated to uphold WCB legislation, I’ve insisted that charges be laid against WCB’s Solicitor/Privacy Officer pursuant to section 171 ofThe Workers’ Compensation Act, which states:
(1)
Subject to sections 171.1 and 171.2, no officer of the board and no person authorized to make an inspection or inquiry under
this Act shall divulge or allow to be divulged, except in the performance of his duties or under the authority of the board,
any information obtained by him or that has come to his knowledge in connection with that inspection
or inquiry.
(2) Every person who contravenes
subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000.
To date, the aforementioned officials have neither acknowledged, nor addressed this matter. Given the Board
at WCB has been aware of this issue since midNovember of last year, it would appear they do not intend to enforce this legislated law.
One has to question the rationale for such obvious privacy breaches, especially in light of the March 28, 2007
report of the SK Privacy Commissioner concerning this issue. One must also question whether this unlawful
practice will continue. Those with answers to these questions evidently feel they are not accountable to individuals like
myself. I believe they are answerable to administrations such as yours however, and upon your review of these circumstances,
I encourage you to contact the officials listed below.
In closing, you will find copies of all correspondences relating to this issue (including this
one) posted on the Internet at:
Thank you for
any and all consideration you may give to this matter. Please know I would sincerely appreciate your thoughts and concerns
regarding the same.
Respectfully,
Thomas Brown
Cc:Mr. Peter Federko –
CEO, Saskatchewan
WCB
Tel:
787-7398
Mr. John Solomon – Chair, Saskatchewan WCB
Tel:
787-4379
Mr.
Walter Eberle – WCB Board Member (Employee Representative)
Tel:
787-4381
Ms.
Karen Smith – WCB Board Member (Employer Representative)
Tel:
787-4382
The Honourable
Rob Norris – Minister Responsible for WCB/Labour
When the Minister failed to respond to the above, I telephoned his office on 3 separate occasions. Despite
his assistant's assurance that a response would be forthcoming, it was not. Subsequently I wrote the following:
Once again, there was no response from this Minister's office (click here to view the statement that accompanied the above).
_______________________
By letter dated April 1, 2008 (below), I wrote the Premier regarding his government’s handling
of this issue (or rather lack thereof). As this involved the Minister of Crown Corporations, I copied it to his attention:
Neither the Minister of Crown Corporations,
nor the Premier responded to the above. Further, a follow-up phone inquiry was also ignored by this Minister's
office.
____________________
As indicated on the homepage of this site,
on May 6th, 2008 I attended the WCB “Annual General Meeting” in Regina. During the Q & A portion of this stakeholder event, I raised the issue of WCB's privacy
violations with Chairman David Eberle. As per his suggestion, I wrote to arrange a private meeting
with Mr. Eberle and CEO Peter Federko in this respect. SubsequentIy I copied this letter to the Minister
of Crown Corporations, asking that he assist in ensuring such a meeting took place:
While I received nothing by way of an acknowledgement/ response from the Minister of Crown Corporations, click here to review the Chairman's denial of my request.
_____________________
Below is the last correspondence sent to the Premier, which simply advised him of this website. As the Minister
of Crown Corporations was instrumental in the development of this site, it was also copied to his attention. I did not
request a response from either the Minister or the Premier, nor do I expect one.
Care to comment on this Minister's handling of these issues? Email him at: minister.cc@gov.sk.ca
