{"id":485803,"date":"2026-02-19T17:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485803\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T17:57:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T17:57:13","slug":"b-c-health-workers-breached-privacy-of-injured-victims-of-vancouver-festival-attack-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/485803\/","title":{"rendered":"B.C. health workers breached privacy of injured victims of Vancouver festival attack \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

VICTORIA \u2013 British Columbia\u2019s privacy commissioner has found 16 people who were sent to medical facilities after the deadly vehicle-ramming attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver last year had their privacy breached by health workers.<\/p>\n

A statement from Michael Harvey\u2019s office says its investigation found 71 incidents of snooping by 36 health workers in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities as well as the Provincial Health Services Authority.<\/p>\n

It says the breaches violated the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which prohibits an employee of a service provider from collecting, using or disclosing personal information, except as authorized by the legislation.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA candle is placed at a memorial for the Lapu Lapu Day block party tragedy in Vancouver, B.C., on Sunday, April 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sean Kilpatrick<\/p>\n

The statement says Harvey also found that individuals whose privacy was breached weren\u2019t notified without unreasonable delay.<\/p>\n

It says the commissioner found the health authorities had \u201creasonable safeguards\u201d in place to prevent and respond to breaches, and they took steps after realizing patients\u2019 privacy was at risk, including investigations and disciplinary action.<\/p>\n

Still, Harvey\u2019s report includes nine recommendations, including continuing efforts to deploy automated software with a focus on preventing access to files, and applying disciplinary measures strong enough to effectively deter and sanction snooping.<\/p>\n

\u201cSnooping is illegal, unethical, and an egregious and intentional invasion of our privacy, and it breaks trust with those in health care that are serving us in a time of need,\u201d Harvey says in the statement issued Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Harvey says it\u2019s essential for public bodies to uphold their obligations to protect personal information in order to maintain public trust in the health system.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

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The Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver was the site of a vehicle-ramming attack that killed 11 people last April, while more than two dozen were injured.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 19, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VICTORIA \u2013 British Columbia\u2019s privacy commissioner has found 16 people who were sent to medical facilities after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-485803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}