But details on Card\u2019s most recent breach remain a mystery, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The incident happened between February 2024 and June 2025, the letter said.<\/p>\n
Card only got the letter this March. <\/p>\n
The document does not say who breached Card’s records or why, but it did say it was a staff member.<\/p>\n
It said the NTHSSA revoked that staff member’s access to certain information systems, but what specifically they accessed is unclear. <\/p>\n
It could have been Card\u2019s name, address emergency contact and more, it said.<\/p>\n
Card said this isn’t the first time his privacy has been breached; another instance dates back to 2020, when Card said a doctor at the Frame Lake Community Health Clinic found a physician’s report with Card’s name on it containing somebody else’s medical information.<\/p>\n
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner asked the NTHSSA to investigate, according to documents shared with Card.<\/p>\n
The physician, a locum, promised Card he’d find out what happened. But Card never heard back, he said, and the doctor had left the clinic by the time he followed up. <\/p>\n
Card said he has raised his concerns with the privacy commissioner\u2019s office and asked for more details on why his privacy keeps getting breached.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that I am repeatedly getting letters telling me that my information’s been breached is troubling. It makes me feel that I’m not being heard when I make complaints about it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
More than 750 breaches over a decade<\/p>\n
The N.W.T. government’s 10-year report found more than 750 health information privacy breaches across the N.W.T. health system between October 2015 to April 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That includes breaches involving the NTHSSA, the Hay River Health and Social Services Authority, the T\u0142\u0131\u0328ch\u01eb Community Services Agency, the former Covid-19 Coordinating Secretariat and the Department of Health and Social Services. <\/p>\n
David Fraser, a privacy lawyer at McInnes Cooper in Halifax, said it\u2019s common across Canada for privacy breaches to happen. But when they do, it seems the N.W.T. provides less information than other provinces about what happened.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773895399_446_default.jpg\")
David Fraser is a privacy lawyer in Halifax. He said breaches matter because residents can lose faith in their healthcare system. (CBC)<\/p>\n
\u201cInformation about who has been snooping in your medical file is often routinely provided where that information is available,\u201d said Fraser.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you get a notification from a health authority saying, \u2018We regret to inform you that we’ve discovered anomalous and unauthorized access to your record,\u2019 in many cases, they will provide the name or at the very least the role of the person who was found to have snooped,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Fraser said breaches matter because residents can lose faith in their healthcare system, which comes with further repercussions. He also said people might not give doctors and nurses all the information that’s necessary for them to receive appropriate care, for example.<\/p>\n
But reducing breaches is not so simple, Fraser added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would die if the emergency room nurse had to call the help desk to get access to particular files on a patient-by-patient basis,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s really important that everybody who should have access has ready access. And so the system generally depends on auditing tools and supervision, and then discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Health authority responds<\/p>\n
CBC News asked for an interview with the territory\u2019s Health and Social Services Minister Lesa Semmler. Her office said she was not available.<\/p>\n
CBC News also approached the territory\u2019s health authority for comment. In a prepared statement, the authority said privacy breaches in health care happen across Canada and can be unintentional.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is important is that they are identified, and steps are taken to mitigate or prevent future breaches of a similar nature,\u201d the authority said.<\/p>\n
When breaches happen, the authority said, teams review policies and procedures with staff to make improvements. It said a mandatory training policy also requires annual privacy training for employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ensures staff are \u2018privacy aware\u2019 and understand their roles and responsibilities when handling information and protecting clients\u2019 privacy,\u201d according to the authority.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It also said it’s standard practice across Canada not to name who accessed information inappropriately. <\/p>\n
“Letters do not name employees because they include only the minimum necessary information, avoid affecting an ongoing investigation, and protect employee privacy and due process,” the authority said.<\/p>\n
Clients can request a record that shows who has accessed their personal health information in the territory’s electronic health information systems.<\/p>\n
CBC News reached out to the territory’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for comment. The office deferred to the health authority for answers to specific questions about breaches. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Yellowknife resident says he\u2019s lost faith in the territory\u2019s health-care system and wants to see more transparency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336852,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-337065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}