After enduring a cruise with a COVID-19 outbreak and four deaths, the 247 Canadian passengers who were aboard the Holland America Line ship, the MS Zaandam, face a new problem: a privacy breach by the federal government.
“Didn’t we go through enough? Now we have to have a breach too?” said passenger Margaret Tilley of Nanaimo, “I’m just very angry that they would allow something like this to happen.”
In a detailed email Global Affairs Canada sent Canadian passengers during the Easter holiday weekend, it explained that, “due to an administrative error,” it had mistakenly sent them an email on April 1 with an attachment containing personal information on each passenger — including their address, date of birth, email, phone number and passport number.
The Global Affairs notice about the breach advised passengers to monitor their financial accounts and request periodic credit reports from a national credit bureau to limit the risk of identity theft.
During the ill-fated Zaandam cruise, Global Affairs kept Canadian passengers updated on efforts to get them off the ship and back to Canada. The breach happened the day before the ship docked in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on April 2 so passengers could disembark and return home.
Global Affairs told CBC News that after the breach happened on April 1, it “promptly” sent a follow-up email that same day, apologizing to passengers and informing them they could contact the department if they had questions.
Tilley said she didn’t notice either of the Global Affairs emails sent on April 1, because she was so preoccupied with the COVID-19 outbreak plaguing the cruise at the time.
She said she first learned about the breach on April 11, when Global Affairs sent her a more detailed notice on the matter which included advice on how passengers can protect themselves.
“That really upset me,” said Tilley. “Because if somebody is going to use your information, they’re going to use it right away.”
Passenger Wendy Mitchell of Victoria said she also didn’t fully understand the breach until she received the most recent email from Global Affairs.
On Saturday, Mitchell filed a complaint about the breach with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
“Just complete and utter disappointment in our government,” she said about the matter.
Although each passengers’ personal information was sent to the 247 Canadians on the Zaandam, passenger Norma Kirkham of Victoria said that it was likely inadvertently forwarded to other people. In her case, she forwarded email updates from Global Affairs during the cruise to her concerned son in California.
Read the full article on CBC News
This article was originally posted by Sophia Harris on CBC News.
CHEK News
