Farmers say the federal agriculture department should have told them sooner that a computer containing their personal information had been stolen.
“I’m furious over it,” said Adam Campbell of Rosalind, Alta.
But he also had harsh words for the Canadian Canola Growers Association, which owned the laptop containing personal and financial information on 32,000 farmers who accessed federal advance payment programs. The association delivers the APP for the federal department.
“What the hell is wrong with the Canadian Canola Growers that they allow somebody to download that information on a laptop?” Campbell said.
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The laptop was stolen March 30 and farmers received letters just last week from Agriculture Canada warning them that their information had been lost.
“Your personal and financial information including name, permit book number, date of birth, address, member status, phone numbers, e-mail address, bank account number, APP identification number and your social insurance number were stored on the stolen equipment,” said the letter.
APP manager Pierre Perusse said he has not heard that any of the information has been accessed or used fraudulently. Both a password and biometric fingerprinting protected the information on the machine.
“We believe the risk of exposure to be low,” Perusse said.
Of the 32,000 names on the laptop, about 18,000 are from Saskatchewan, 7,000 from Manitoba and 5,700 from Alberta. There were also 230 from British Columbia and the rest were from other provinces.
All farmers had participated in the Spring Credit Advance Program, the Enhanced Spring Credit Advance program or the Advance Payments Program.
James Atkinson, who farms at Dysart, Sask., said he didn’t care for the tone of the letter, particularly where it stated that farmers should change their social insurance numbers or bank accounts on their own.
“It’s not our fault,” he said.
He, too, said the delay in notification is troubling.
Perusse said the privacy commissioner’s office told the department to advise producers as fast as possible. However, it took two months to gather the information needed to send the letters out.
Campbell said the canola association should have immediately notified producers by telephone. He also said personal information should be stored on a mainframe computer, not a laptop, so that it can be accessed but not downloaded.
The laptop had been removed from the canola office when it was stolen. Campbell said he feels sorry for the person who was burgled.
“But it’s not right. It shows a lack of professionalism.”
Perusse said theft is not completely preventable.
Agriculture Canada is reviewing its privacy policies and the canola group has stopped collecting social insurance numbers as part of its database, he said.
An investigation into the theft continues.
