News release
Federal, provincial, and territorial privacy regulators address responsible information-sharing in situations involving intimate partner violence
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November 27, 2024
Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne and privacy authorities from across Canada have issued a joint resolution to guide the responsible disclosure of personal information in situations involving intimate partner violence.
From 2018 to 2023, intimate partner violence in Canada increased 13%. In 2023, there were 123,319 victims (aged 12 years and older) of intimate partner violence reported to police; a statistic that likely underrepresents the true number of incidents nationwide, as many cases go unreported.
Privacy laws generally permit the disclosure of personal information if there is a risk of serious harm to health or safety. This joint resolution is aimed at empowering organizations and their staff to make informed decisions about privacy, confidentiality, and public safety, particularly around identifying and taking the necessary and reasonable steps to prevent potential harms to individuals.
The resolution was passed at the recent annual meeting of federal, provincial, and territorial information and privacy commissioners and ombuds, hosted by the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. It outlines actions that organizations can take to understand and assess the conditions under which they may disclose personal information to reduce or mitigate risk and to ensure that any disclosures of personal information are appropriate. These include:
- establishing policies on permissible disclosures;
- requiring staff training around the policies and procedures related to the disclosure of personal information;
- adopting culturally sensitive and trauma-informed approaches particularly among marginalized, racialized, or vulnerable groups and considering the unique experiences of Indigenous communities;
- notifying individuals in advance about the possibility that their personal information may be disclosed, and under what circumstances;
- ensuring that privacy and security safeguards are in place; and
- respecting data minimization principles.
The resolution also calls on governments to work with privacy authorities to help support organizations on this important issue.
Quote
“Responsible information sharing is necessary to help mitigate the harms of intimate partner violence. Privacy authorities from across Canada are united in our desire to support organizations to make informed decisions about disclosing personal information in situations where there is a serious risk to life, health, or safety.”
Philippe Dufresne
Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Related links
- Resolution: Responsible information-sharing in situations involving intimate partner violence
- News Release (October 2024): Annual meeting of federal, provincial, and territorial information and privacy commissioners and ombuds
- Article (December 2021): Digital Stalking on the Rise in Canada
- Research: Protecting victims’ privacy to prevent spousal homicide (Project funded under the OPC’s Contributions Program)
- Statistics Canada (October 2024): Trends in police-reported family violence and intimate partner violence in Canada, 2023
Media contact
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
communications@priv.gc.ca
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