LAURA HOWELLS
The Muse (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

ST. JOHN’S (CUP) — A division of the Canadian federal government has lost a hard drive containing the personal information of 583,000 clients of the Canada Student Loans Program.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) issued an advisory on the privacy breach on Jan. 11.

“I want all Canadians to know that I have expressed my disappointment to departmental officials at this unacceptable and avoidable incident in handling Canadians’ personal information,” said Diane Finley, Minister of HRSDC.

“On behalf of our Government, I want to reassure Canadians that we are serious about protecting their personal information. As Minister, I will ensure that every effort is taken so that HRSDC meets the expectations of Canadians in keeping their information safe and secure.”

The hard drive contains information on students who took out loans between 2000 and 2006. The missing information includes students’ names, social insurance numbers, birth dates, contact information and loan balance. The breach affects students from all provinces and territories, except for those in Quebec, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

Michael Walsh, the Newfoundland and Labrador Chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students, has been getting numerous inquiries from students who are concerned about whether this breach affects them personally and what it means to have their personal information compromised.

“These are students who are already burdened with huge student debts. They already have the stress of trying to work to pay off these huge debts and now they have the added stress of wondering if their personal information is in the hands of a stranger.”

Walsh believes that this breach highlights a larger problem of post-secondary tuition fees for Canadian students.

“The fact that so many students across the country are forced to borrow in order to finance their education is the reason that we have a situation of such magnitude right now.

“I think this shows that we have a system of post-secondary education in Canada where largely, students have to finance their education on debt.”

Adam Awad, chairperson for the Canadian Federation of Students, agrees.

“If we just funded education properly across the country, we wouldn’t have to deal with this all.”

Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development Diane Finley issued a statement on the breach on January 11.

There is no indication currently that any of the information has been accessed, however all affected accounts have been put on high alert. The situation is currently being investigated by the RCMP.

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Photo: Alex Walsh/The Fulcrum