Several retired employees of the city of Ottawa have had their medical and personal information accidentally leaked online by the city.

The information was erroneously released to the general public under an access-to-information request regarding the loss of benefits.  The city of Ottawa did not realize its blunder until a reporter for Ottawa Citizen pointed out the information leak.

“Allow me to begin this response by thanking you for drawing this matter of a privacy breach to the city’s attention,” city solicitor Rick O’Connor told Ottawa Citizen after the publication brought attention to the data leak.

Within a couple of days following the discovery of the breach, the city attempted to reach the retirees by phone to offer their apologies. Letters of apology were also sent out to those affected. Sensitive information, such as specific health problems, financial situations, and phone numbers of these retirees, was among the data compromised in the breach.

“This is really disappointing,” former city clerk Pierre Page told Ottawa Citizen.

“This obviously shouldn’t have happened,” commented Orléans Councillor Bob Monette. “People’s personal information should never be revealed.”


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