I have a concern that cannot or will not be addressed by any government agency. This concern pertains to the protection of my personal information.
A Prince Edward Island corporation sent my T4 information via email to me. I expressly notified them not to use this type of communication to send me this information. Not only did they send it via this means, they sent it unencrypted.
This is expressly against the federal and provincial government acts put in place to protect such information. As well, CRA expressly states that employers cannot use email without an employee’s consent and if such consent is given it must be sent encrypted at the least.
I sent a complaint to the provincial Information and Privacy Commissioner of Prince Edward Island via a letter. The response was that they have no jurisdiction to investigate this matter.
I contacted both the federal body dealing with privacy of information as well as CRA via recorded phone calls. Both stated they as well have no jurisdiction to investigate a complaint in this matter.
Unless my information is outdated or incorrect there are provincial and federal acts that state expressly that what this corporation has done is not allowed to happen. As well the CRA website expressly states that this is not allowed. I have always tried to protect my government information as best I can. I also understand that email can be intercepted easily, and information can be extracted. The fact I received the email does not mean that the information was not intercepted. The fact that the title of the email was listed as “T4” compounds the issue since it makes intercepting it even better.
The only avenue I would possibly have is to hire a lawyer. I cannot believe that a government act that expressly states that what happen is not allowed can not be investigated and something be done to properly punish a corporation from doing this and protect others from this happening. There must be a place to issue a complaint and have this dealt with however at this time no government body can direct me to the proper authority.
If it is possible please direct me to the appropriate authority or forward this to them.
Allen Kautz,
Mayfield, P.E.I.
