Summary
During the transition of ownership of the Prince of Peace Lutheran School Building in the fall of 2022, Rocky View Schools (RVS) was responsible for removing all property and personal information belonging to the school division. Unfortunately, some files were left unattended during the transition of occupancy. Some of these files contained personal information as defined by the Freedom of Information Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP). RVS vacated the building as of Aug. 30, 2022. RVS was notified of the remaining files on Oct. 11, 2022.
Investigation and Results
It is unknown if anyone accessed the contents of the files while they were in the possession of the new building owners. However, it is possible that the files could have been accessed by unauthorized third parties. There is no evidence, at this time, that any of the information has been accessed or used by unknown third-parties.
Disclosure/Notification
Rocky View Schools recognizes our responsibility to protect personal information under the FOIP Act. While there are no notification requirements under the FOIP Act, in addition to individualized notifications being provided to identified individuals, notice of this breach is being shared publicly as RVS was unable to locate the potentially impacted parties. RVS has also self-reported this privacy breach to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) of Alberta, Alberta’s privacy regulator, and is keeping the OIPC informed.
Acknowledgement and Next Steps
Actions and corrective measures are being taken to prevent this from occurring again in future.
If you have questions regarding your privacy, or whether your information was contained in the breach, please contact the RVS Business and Operations Department. Further, under section 65(3) of the FOIP Act, if you have been affected by this privacy breach, you have the right to file a complaint with the Information and Privacy Commissioner regarding this matter. Additional information regarding the Commissioner’s Office processes is available at www.oipc.ab.ca;or by calling 1-888-878-4044.