Health Canada’s medical marijuana privacy breach slammed

The dad was just one of 40,000 people across Canada who received letters from Health Canada that identified they were part of the medical marijuana program. Deputy Health Minister George Da Pont has apologized for the privacy breach, writing that the department deeply regrets the administrative error…A spokesperson for the privacy commissioner said Thursday an investigation was underway. As of Friday morning the privacy commissioner had received 40 formal complaints about the letters. NDP health critic Libby Davies said it was shocking the envelopes went out in the general mail with the program identified. “It is a terrible breach of people’s privacy. I’m shocked,” Davies said. Davies said she doesn’t blame people for being skeptical about the government’s explanation it was an administrative error. “I am certainly going to pursue it. I want to find out how it happened. This is sensitive information for a lot of people,” she said.