Pubdate: Fri, 24 Apr 2015
Source: Chronicle Herald (CN NS)
Copyright: 2015 The Halifax Herald Limited
Contact:  http://www.herald.ns.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/180
Author: Sherri Borden Colley

MEDICAL POT USERS TRY CLASS ACTION AFTER HEALTH CANADA PRIVACY BREACH

Lawyers will go before a Federal Court judge in Halifax in June to ask
the court to certify a proposed class action on behalf of 40,000
medical marijuana users whose privacy was breached by Health Canada in
2013.

There are 2,105 Nova Scotia class members in the case.

A confidentiality order protects the real names of the two lead
plaintiffs, a Nova Scotia man who works as a health-care professional
and an Ottawa woman who works in the legal field. In court documents,
they are identified under the pseudonyms John Doe and Suzie Jones.

June 11 and 12 have been set aside for the certification
hearing.

The week of Nov. 18, 2013, Health Canada sent letters to about 40,000
people authorized under the Marijuana Medical Access Program to
acquire the drug for medical use or who were licensed to to grow it.

The mail-out had the name of the program and the participants' names
in clear view on the envelope.

Health Canada said it was an administrative error.

Before that, all correspondence sent by Health Canada in relation to
the program was sent in plain envelopes and did not have sender
information or use the word marijuana.

"As soon as it was discovered, my phone started ringing off the hook
with individuals who were very upset that Health Canada had, from what
I understand, deviated from their previous standard practice of
corresponding with members of the Marijuana Medical Access Program,"
David Fraser, of the Halifax law firm McInnes Cooper, said in an
interview Wednesday.

"And the reason why people were very upset was because this exposed
their name and their connection with the Marijuana Medical Access
Program not only, for example, to Canada Post but also to their
neighbours in some small communities.

"We've heard a number of cases where the individual piece of mail was
misdirected and went to the neighbour's house. This is very sensitive,
private information."

Three other law firms, one in British Columbia and two in Ontario, are
also handling the case.

The lawsuit alleges Health Canada was negligent, careless and reckless
in sending out the mailing. None of the allegations have been tested
in court.

The government has not yet filed a defence.

Since the lawsuit was filed in November 2013, the Federal Privacy
Commissioner concluded an investigation that found Health Canada
violated the Privacy Act, Fraser said.

The irony, he said, is that Health Canada had sent the letters to
permit holders because it was changing the program, as the
then-current version exposed people to safety concerns like violent
home invasions.

"So in the process of telling individuals that they were subject to
these risks, they, in fact, created those risks," Fraser said.

Some of his clients have stopped growing marijuana and storing the
plants in their homes and had to significantly increase security at
their properties because of the breach, he said.

The plaintiffs are seeking various damages.
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