The Canadian Canola Growers Association says it has taken every possible step to ensure farmer’s privacy since a laptop containing the personal and financial information of 32,000 producers was stolen last spring.
“Within a week of the incident we completely encrypted all data in our offices,” said CCGA general manager Rick White.
“We implemented security policies and put them in place, internally, to ensure it never happens again.”
The computer was stolen while out of the office for maintenance.
The CCGA now prohibits sensitive data from leaving its offices, with the exception of data stored offsite to provide file backup.
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It administers the federal government’s Advance Payment Program, and the names of producers who applied for that program were stored in the laptop, along with their bank account, telephone and social insurance numbers.
Of the 32,000 farmers in the database, 18,000 were from Saskatchewan, 7,000 from Manitoba, 5,700 from Alberta, 230 from British Columbia and the rest from other provinces.
White said the association has also implemented safeguards to meet the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
“Legally we don’t have to … but we voluntarily are complying with the privacy act,” he said.
Although the bolstered security is good news for producers, it’s not stopping the class action suit filed last year against Agriculture Canada and the CCGA.
The Merchant Law Group of Regina is handling the case, which partner Evatt Merchant said is working its way toward certification.
In a certification, a judge decides if the case has the merit to become a class action. If not, it becomes an individual action by the plaintiffs named on the class lawsuit.
Merchant said the process takes time.
“In Canada, most proposed class actions don’t get to certification for two or three years because it’s complex litigation,” he said. “The good news is that most cases after certification tend to settle fairly quickly.”
Given his firm’s track record of similar cases, Merchant is confident this lawsuit will produce a positive result for producers.
“We’ve had substantial experience dealing with other privacy violation cases … that have resulted in compensation being paid,” he said.
Although Darryl Oliver of McAuley, Man., said compensation would be nice, he also wants to see more privacy in all agricultural assistance programs.
“If we need to present this (personal information), then make sure it’s stored properly,” said Oliver, whose name is attached to the class action suit along with James Goby of Avonlea, Sask.
Oliver said he was surprised and upset when he received a letter from Agriculture Canada last June, informing him of the security breach more than two months after the laptop was stolen.
He changed his credit card number, instructed his bank to watch his account for unusual transactions and checked with rating agencies on the status of his credit.
He didn’t change his social insurance number because he is nearing retirement age and was worried the change would get lost in the bureaucratic shuffle.
“(In government), the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing,” he said.
