Saskatchewan's hunting and angling licensing system has had a serious breach of privacy, as social media posts emerged on Sunday of hunters receiving emails that contained the private information of other individuals.  

MLA of Saskatoon, as well as Critic for the Ministry of Environment, Ericka Ritchie, had contacted Saskatchewan’s Information and Privacy commissioner requesting an investigation shortly after, asking that Commissioner Kruzeniski examine the American company who administers the licensing system. 

“We started to receive notification from constituents that they were receiving emails from the online hunting, angling and licensing system, requesting them to complete surveys, but it had the incorrect personal identification information associated with the email said they were sending the request to,” Ritchie said.  

The emails are said to include names and HAL ID numbers that did not match the recipient of said email. 

“It's a breach of private information and one that was cause for concern, especially directly on the heels of the report the Privacy Commissioner had done regarding the eHealth breach on Friday. That is why we immediately sent a letter of request to the Privacy Commissioner, asking them to investigate and look into the matter.” 

Ritchie says that when she had initially submitted her formal letter to the Privacy Commissioner, she didn’t have a lot of information as to what exactly was going on. What was known was that a privacy breach had occurred.  

“Since then, the Government has indicated that they believe that it was human error, and that's exactly what we're actually asking the Privacy Commissioner to look into. Was that indeed the case, and if so, how did that happen? How can it be prevented from happening in the future? What sorts of measures are in place so that doesn’t happen again?” Ritchie said.   

“As I understand it, the government has commented and reported directly to the Privacy Commissioner about it, but I am somewhat disappointed that they haven't made any sort of public statements. There's no information on the website for anybody from the general public wanting to inquire and understand what happened. It's quite surprising that they wouldn't be more forthcoming and transparent.”  

Ritchie says that concerns had first been raised regarding the system going to a third party that without a country when it was first proposed back in 2012. She believes that it further adds to the case, in terms of why it's important that subscriber's information is in secure control, and not being sent out of country. 

“These types of errors don't occur and doesn't point towards any sort of a systematic failure, because regardless of whether it's malicious attack, or just one of human error - at the end of the day, the result is still the same. Privacy has been breached and it needs to be handled accordingly. 

She believes that the breach ties in directly with the Privacy Commissioner's findings on the eHealth breach which was released to the public on Friday.