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<\/p>\nPrivacy commission Michael Harvey\u2019s office said its investigation found 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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Harvey\u2019s office also found that individuals whose privacy was breached weren\u2019t notified without unreasonable delay, and the health authorities believed they weren\u2019t required to notify affected individuals. <\/p>\n
\u201cVancouver Coastal Health and (the Provincial Health Services Authority,) after assessing the risk of harm to individuals whose privacy was violated, initially took the position that notification was not required and could itself result in further harm,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
The authorities, the report said, took the view that notifying people could result in \u201cre-traumatizing or re-victimizing them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The investigation also 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
The first report of snooping came just four days after the attack, the report said, and others occurred in the months afterward. <\/p>\n
Employee access to the breached information is logged and recorded, and audits of their access uncovered the snooping incidents, the report said. <\/p>\n
The 36 employees all reported \u201ccuriosity\u201d as one of the reasons for accessing the records, with a few also reporting \u201cconcerns for their community\u201d and for emotional or mental preparation to provide care. <\/p>\n
One employee stated they were also \u201cgrieving the loss of a friend,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile these are not necessarily malicious intentions, their intentional and reckless nature indicate a risk that the personal information could be further disclosed due to general curiosity and ongoing public interest in this event,\u201d the report said. <\/p>\n
Fifteen workers found to have wrongfully accessed the records were nurses, and 13 were administrative support workers, the report said. <\/p>\n
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 said in the statement issued Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Harvey said 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
Health Minister Josie Osborne told reporters Thursday at the legislature that it was \u201cvery difficult\u201d for victims and their families to learn that health authority employees would take the opportunity to look into confidential and privileged information, \u201cto satisfy their own curiosity or some other need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is illegal, it is unethical, and it is completely unacceptable,\u201d Osborne said at an unrelated news conference, adding she was \u201cgrateful\u201d to the commissioner for the report. <\/p>\n
She said the consequences for those employees, including those who lost their jobs, sends a message about the importance of maintaining dignity and trust in keeping sensitive records confidential. <\/p>\n
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
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Privacy commission Michael Harvey\u2019s office said its investigation found the breaches violated the Freedom of Information and Protection…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82,55],"class_list":["post-487392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487392","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=487392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}