Investigation into possible third-party data breach involving health information of 200K Ontarians underway: minister
Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health speaks during Question Period at Queen's Park in Toronto on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
Health Minister Silvia Jones says that an investigation is underway into a reported data breach at a third-party vendor amid claims that the personal health information of approximately 200,000 Ontarians may have been accessed.
Liberal MPP Adil Shamji issued a news release on Friday in which he claimed that a breach involving the data of Ontario Health atHome patients occurred on March 17 but has not been disclosed to the public.
In his release. Shamji called on the Information and Privacy Commissioner to investigate the breach and demanded that Premier Doug Ford provide an explanation for 'three-and-a-half months of inaction.'
Asked about the matter during an unrelated news conference on Friday, Jones confirmed that an investigation is ongoing.
Jones, however, did not directly respond to a question on whether private medical records were in fact accessed.
'Ontario Health is absolutely investigating right now. We have a division that focuses on any potential cyberbreach and it is standard operating (procedure) that we will notify (the public) if there has been any form of breach to individual patients but that investigation is going on right now,'
Ontario Health atHome is an organization that coordinates access to health care support at home and in the community.
In a letter sent to Information and Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim, Shamji claimed that the breach may have compromised the health records of 'nearly one-third of all homecare patients in our province.'
Shamji said that he notified the PC government about the breach on June 20, however during a media availability on Friday Ford seemed to suggest that he was not previously aware of the matter.
'As the minister just said they are doing an investigation and that will come out and we will find out where the gap is and why it wasn't brought to our attention a lot earlier,' he said. 'Health records are sacred in Ontario. Anyone who breaches health care records needs to be fired immediately, they need to be gone, charged, that is what needs to happen here in Ontario.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
24 minutes ago
- CBC
Interior Health CEO steps down amid pediatric unit closure at Kelowna General Hospital
The CEO of Interior Health is stepping down amid an extended closure of the pediatric in-patient unit at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH), the regional health authority announced Friday. Service disruptions to the KGH's 10-bed inpatient general pediatrics unit were announced on May 24, with an extended closure of six weeks to begin May 26, due to doctor shortages. CEO Susan Brown had announced her plans to retire last spring, but will be leaving in advance of her pending retirement, Interior Health said in a news release. Her resignation is part of "several key actions" taken by the board of directors, the senior executive team and KGH medical leadership to reopen the pediatric unit as soon as possible, according to Interior Health. The health authority said it will continue to work with the medical staff association and Doctors of B.C. through an established joint action committee to address the staffing challenges and "stabilize services," and will appoint a third-party facilitator to make recommendations to the board. Interior Health said Sylvia Weir, the current chief financial officer and vice president of corporate services, will be stepping in as the interim president and CEO of the government agency.
CBC
29 minutes ago
- CBC
An Ottawa runner posted online asking 'Did you save my life?' Then he got an answer
Social Sharing Tommy Chan knows he ran five kilometres on Tuesday, May 20. He just doesn't remember it. In fact, he doesn't recall anything from that date — waking up days later in haze at the Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus after suffering a post-run heart attack. "I don't even remember the massage therapy or going to class beforehand," Chan said. "I just know nothing about what happened that day, or the next four." Tech helps fill in blanks Since his collapse, the 39-year-old says he's done some detective work in an attempt to recover the missing pieces and learn more about the people who saved his life. The running app Strava tells him he finished his 5K run around Bronson and Carling at 7:50 p.m. His Garmin smartwatch, which is linked to Strava, shows his heart rate throughout that cool spring day. A noticeable spike Chan assumes is his evening run is followed by a sudden lack of any readings at all: the chart goes blank. But what his tech doesn't tell him is anything about those who lent a hand. Chan says he was likely walking home when his heart gave out, with paramedics saying they responded to the area near the intersection of Carling and Champagne avenues around 8:50 p.m., finding an adult male in cardiac arrest. Ottawa Fire Services also responded, using a defibrillator to administer a shock, with the emergency teams eventually able to get his heart back to a more normal rhythm. But before any of that, bystanders initiated CPR under the direction of the paramedics services' communication officers. "This teamwork between bystanders, firefighters and paramedics clearly shows the importance of the chain of survival," said Marc-Antoine Deschamps, superintendent for the Ottawa Paramedic Service in an emailed statement. 'Did you save my life?' Chan still feels those good deeds: the broken ribs he was left with are a painful reminder of the kindness of others. Besides the soreness in his chest, he's also felt a desire to reach out and let others know he's still alive. "If I were a Good Samaritan, that would be cool to know that this person is doing OK," he said. Now he has at least one person he can thank after posting about his mystery online under the heading, "Did you save my life?" Tawnya Shimizu is a nurse practitioner who was with her daughter that day when the two saw a commotion to the side of their car. Already people had gathered around an unconscious Chan lying on the ground. "I could hear the 9-1-1 operator giving directions on CPR and counting out the timing," she said. "So my daughter was immediately like, 'Mommy, you're a nurse. You need to help!'" 'Weighed on our minds' Introducing herself, she took over CPR until emergency services arrived. She said she entered work mode at that moment. Only when it was all said and done was she left with a mystery of her own: what happened to Chan after the ambulance drove away? "It's definitely weighed on our minds, to kind of wonder if he was OK and if he survived," she said. Cardiologist Simon Hansom, director of Inherited Arrhythmia Clinic at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, says bystander CPR is "the number one thing you can do to save people." "You do your best," the doctor said. "If someone's had a cardiac arrest, you're not going to make them any worse than they already are." After connecting online, Shimizu, her daughter and Chan now have plans to meet this weekend — with Chan having the opportunity to express his gratitude to Shimizu live on air on CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning on Friday morning. "The biggest thank you," Chan said. "I don't know what else to say. Like, I can't believe you were at the right place at the right time. So I don't know how I can never repay you."
Global News
31 minutes ago
- Global News
Ontario health agency reports major data breach to watchdog without notifying patients
Government and privacy officials are investigating a potential data breach involving the health data of hundreds of thousands of patients who have not yet been notified about an incident in the spring. On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Health Minister Sylvia Jones and the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) all appeared to confirm that the data of patients using the Ontario Health atHome service may have been breached. In a letter to Ontario Liberal MPP Adil Shamji, who first flagged the potential cyber attack, the IPC suggested he was correct when he said the incident occurred more than three months ago in March. The IPC commissioner confirmed to Shamji that a report had been filed 'that aligns with the circumstances and date described in your letter.' Shamji had said the breach happened on or around March 17 and involved 200,000 patients. Story continues below advertisement A spokesperson for the IPC told Global News the watchdog had received reports of a breach from Ontario Health atHome — which did not report it until the end of May. The government didn't confirm the breach until June 27, after questions at an unrelated news conference. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Ontario Health atHome notified our office of a privacy breach on May 30, 2025,' the spokesperson wrote. 'At this stage, we are reviewing the circumstances of the incident and cannot share further details at this time.' Jones said the public agency responsible was investigating. 'Ontario Health is absolutely investigating right now,' she said. 'We have a division that focuses on any potential cyber breach, and as is standing operating (procedure) Ontario Health and Ontario Health atHome will notify if there has been any form of breach to individual patients, but that investigation is going on right now.' With the breach potentially occurring in March and the IPC notified last month, it is unclear why patients potentially involved have not yet been notified. Shamji said they should have been notified long ago. 'I fundamental tenet of a breach of this nature — especially involving so many people — is to immediately notify those individuals,' he said. 'They need to know that their personal information may be compromised and that they need to be monitoring things like credit scores.' Story continues below advertisement Ford appeared to suggest his office had not been informed, despite Ontario Health atHome telling the IPC about the breach a month earlier. 'We'll find out where the gap is and why it wasn't brought to our attention a lot earlier, but we're glad the investigation is happening,' Ford said on Friday. Global News sent questions to Ontario Health but did not receive a response ahead of publication. The potential data breach is the latest issue in a difficult period for Ontario Health atHome, a rebranded and consolidated agency launched by the Ford government. Supply shortages in the fall left more than 350 people receiving home and palliative care across the province without the medication or equipment they needed. Delays in delivering supplies came after the government signed new contracts with private vendors for Ontario Health. As a result of the delays, the province had to refund $219,000 to people forced to buy their own medical supplies. Shamji said the data breach was evidence of an agency which couldn't function properly. 'Ontario Health atHome has been in disarray for months,' he said. 'First with medication shortages and then with supply shortages, then with massive delays in care and now with the protection of personal health information. They've failed on all those things.'
