Afghanistan veteran takes government, Royal Canadian Legion to court over privacy breach

A Saskatchewan veteran is taking the federal government and the Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) to court over an alleged privacy breach.

A Saskatchewan veteran is taking the federal government and the Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) to court over an alleged privacy breach.

Internal Veterans Affairs Canada emails shared with CTV News outline a months-long investigation into breaches of the personal medical and other information of up to six veterans by one service officer at the Regina branch of the Legion.

The information comes from a Saskatchewan veteran who was one of two notified their information was accessed inappropriately.

On May 31, he filed a statement of claim against the ministry and several members of the Royal Canadian Legion – Saskatchewan Command, seeking damages in excess of $500,000.

The veteran, who is referred to only as C.D. in the lawsuit, told CTV News he was shocked when he discovered the granular level of personal information the Legion has access to.

“It’s disturbing. They can literally read all of our medical documents … our psychologists questionnaires that get submitted to VAC in order for us to get pension for PTSD, and usually in those conversations a lot of very sensitive stuff comes up.”

The ministry has an agreement with the Legion allowing service officers at the Legion to access personnel, financial and medical records in a federal government database in order to help veterans apply for benefits. As part of the agreement, they are required to have signed permission to represent a veteran before accessing files.