Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools Acknowledges Privacy Breach

April 29, 2002

Investigation Report F2002-IR-02 (PDF)

Frank Work, Q.C., Acting Information and Privacy Commissioner, publicly released an investigation report into a complaint against the Greater St. Albert Catholic Schools regarding the disclosure of student information.

The St. Albert Minor Hockey Association (SAMHA) claimed that the School District disclosed student attendance information to a hockey team manager and had asked that the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner investigate this matter.

During the investigation, the School District acknowledged that one of the schools under its jurisdiction did disclose the attendance records of two students to a hockey team manager. The School District said that  the disclosure was a one-time incident and that no other disclosures of this nature were made by any of the other schools under its jurisdiction.

The School District said it reviewed this matter, independent of this Office’s investigation, and had determined that the disclosure to the team manager did not fall under the disclosure provisions set out in the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“the FOIP Act”). The School District acknowledged the disclosure was an error in judgement and said it had taken steps to ensure that such a disclosure does not recur.

The investigator assigned to this case agreed with the School District’s decision that the disclosure was in contravention of the FOIP Act. However, as the School District has addressed this matter, no further action is warranted by this Office.