May 8, 2012
Ottawa – Today in the House of Commons, the Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, tabled Privacy Action Plan 2.0. This new action plan outlines the ongoing work to build and maintain a strong culture of privacy at Veterans Affairs Canada.
"As Minister of Veterans Affairs, I take very seriously the Department’s responsibility to protect the privacy and rights of all Veterans," said Minister Blaney. "Though we have made considerable progress, I remain committed to ensuring our processes meet the highest standards, which is why I requested the development of a new action plan to take us to the next level."
The first Privacy Action Plan was implemented in the fall of 2010 to respond to recommendations from the Privacy Commissioner. That plan outlined 10 action items to strengthen controls and monitoring to ensure that the private information in the Department’s care was being appropriately treated. The action items in the original plan have all been completed.
Measures in Privacy Action Plan 2.0 include the following:
- Providing targeted training on privacy principles;
- Streamlining consent forms;
- Ensuring new initiatives are compliant with privacy requirements; and
- Monitoring and evaluating transactions that involve private information.
"This next phase of the Privacy Action Plan builds on our accomplishments to date, and provides Veterans with the assurance that our Government is ensuring their private information remains protected," said Minister Blaney.
The Privacy Action Plan 2.0 can be found at veterans.gc.ca.
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