October 4, 2012
Ottawa — The Honourable Steven Blaney, Minister of Veterans Affairs, announced today the full implementation of key elements of his Privacy Action Plan 2.0, which was launched in May 2012. This is part of ongoing efforts to further strengthen the protection of personal information at Veterans Affairs Canada,
“Our Government recognizes that building and maintaining a strong culture of privacy demands ongoing vigilance,” said Minister Blaney. “We are pursuing the highest standards in privacy protection so that all Veterans can be confident their personal information is safe and their rights are being fully respected.”
The Privacy Action Plan 2.0 builds on the success of the Department’s original 10-point Privacy Action Plan, which was announced in October 2010 to address concerns with how Veterans Affairs Canada was safeguarding the privacy of the men and women it serves. The new measures in the Privacy Action Plan 2.0 include:
- 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.
“Canada’s Veterans have a long and proud history of defending our country’s shared values and individual rights,” said Minister Blaney. “The new privacy measures we have implemented are another example of our determination to do the same for Canada’s heroes.”
