Canadian Province Launches Probe into Cross-Border Impact of USA Patriot Act

The British Columbia Privacy Commissioner has launched an investigation into issues relating to the USA Patriot Act and the privacy of BC residents' personal information involved in the outsourcing of public services to US-linked private sector service providers. The US legislation permits the FBI to seize records from US companies without a court order. But the BC Privacy Commissioner believes that it is unclear whether the law could affect Canadian-based subsidiaries of US corporations that are subject to the US legislation. Specifically, could medical files relating to BC residents be seized by the US government by asserting rights against a US corporation whose Canadian-based subsidiary is a party to a BC outsourcing contract? The question had arisen in legal proceedings launched by the British Columbia Government & Service Employees' Union to challenge certain of the proposed outsourcing of functions associated with the British Columbia Medical Services Plan. In those proceedings the applicant union filed a legal opinion from the American Civil Liberties Union which gave support to the view that the US legislation could have an impact on the privacy of BC residents' health data. The BC Privacy Commissioner has called for submissions from the public on the issue and the deadline for receipt of submissions is July 23, 2004. For the text of the Request for Submissions by the BC Privacy Commissioner (dated May 28, 2004), see: http://www.oipcbc.org/new/21120publicinvite.pdf For a news report of the Privacy Commissioner's Request for Submissions, visit: http://vancouver.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=bc_privacy20040528 Summary by: Amy-Lynne Williams