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Problems with Document - START HERE!

  • fortcprivacydotted
  • Jan 28
  • 4 min read

Link to the Privacy Notice & Declaration itself


Breaking it Down:


The Document is broken into a Privacy Notice, and a Declaration.

We'll go through it piece by piece. Italicized portions are from the document. More concerning aspects are underlined.


Big questions outweigh any answers - the result of Transport Canada having done no consultation with stakeholders.


"The Privacy Notice"


  • "The personal information you provide to Transport Canada (TC) will be collected by the Civil Aviation Medicine Branch under the legal authority of section 404.04 of the Canadian Aviation Regulations and handled in accordance with the Privacy Act."

    • Section 404.04 is deals with issue or renewal of a medical certificate. You can read this yourself by clicking here then search '404.04' on the page.


  • Why are we collecting your personal information? Your personal information is collected for the purpose of establishing medical fitness for the issuance or renewal of medical certificates that validate aviation licenses.

    • Fairly vanilla, but what exactly is "personal information"? More on that soon.


  • Will we use or share your personal information for any other reason? Your personal information may be used for aviation safety purposes and program administration including invoicing, audit, and evaluation. Your personal information may be disclosed to the Transportation Appeals Tribunal of Canada as part of its review of licensing decisions and to the Transportation Safety Board for the purpose of safety investigations. Personal information may also be disclosed pursuant to subsection 8(2) of the Privacy Act. Aggregate data may be disclosed to TC senior management for reporting purposes.

    • What are "aviation safety purposes"?

    • Subsection 8(2) is one of the more concerning pieces. Please take the time to read it here.

    • What does "reporting purposes" mean?


  • What happens if you don’t want to provide your personal information? If you do not provide your personal information, the Civil Aviation Medicine Branch may [this read 'will' in the previous version] suspend assessment of your medical certificate and/or application, with no entitlement for a refund.

    • Sign or lose your license (job). If, as some claim, unrestricted access to all of your medical info has always been the case, then why a coercive threat with absolutely no notice?

    • Within the past week (Jan 28) members were told they would not get their medical if they refused to sign the form. So apparently "may" is still handled as "will".


  • What are your rights? You have the right to request access to, and correction of, your personal information. You also have a right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you feel your personal information has been handled improperly. For more information about these rights, or about how we handle your personal information, please contact the Civil Aviation Medical Branch.

    • Interestingly, the only means provided to address the pile of questions most have is to contact the CAME Branch at a link provided. The link goes to a page not at all intended for this purpose.

    • All the same, a good idea to avail ourselves of any opportunity to contact the OPC and CAME Branch. Go to our 'What Can You Do?' post for details.


  • For more information: The collection of your personal information is described on the TC Info Source webpage. Refer to the personal information bank (PIB) TC PPU 020 - Medical Assessments.

    • Initially, ALPA referred members to the personal information bank as justification for the Document's demands. However, if you drill down (not very deep) into PIB 020 here, what's accessed is defined and very much finite.

Declaration


  • I declare that I have read and understood the Privacy Notice Statement (PNS) and how Transport Canada (TC) will collect, use, and disclose my personal information for the purposes outlined therein.

    • We'd like to meet anyone who fully understands all of that. Again, dozens of questions, no good answers.

    • If you have read and do NOT understand how TC will collect, use and disclose all of your private information (including from third parties, etc), how do you honestly sign in good conscience??


  • Additionally, I hereby authorize TC to collect and review any additional medical information about me from third parties that may be deemed necessary to establish that I meet the requirements for the medical certification of licensed aviation personnel, as specified in the Canadian Aviation Regulations. This includes, but is not limited to, information contained in healthcare provider records, laboratory reports, medical test results, medical record systems, and pharmacy databases

    • "Third parties". Undefined third parties. There is no definition of who and what that might entail. You really don't know what you don't know.

    • "Includes but is not limited to" is a slightly longer way of saying "completely unlimited" (access to your private medical info). This, in spite of then listing every conceivable source for medical info we can think of.

    • There is no start or end date as to when all of this information can be accessed. How far back and when does it end?

    • The way it reads right now, they can access all of your health, pharmacy, lab, medical test results, from any time frame at all. And much more ("not limited to").


  • I acknowledge that it is an offence under section 7.3 of the Aeronautics Act to knowingly make any false representation(s)...

    • So if you don't in fact understand the Privacy Notice Statement (PNS) and how Transport Canada (TC) will collect, use, and disclose your personal information for the purposes outlined therein" what should you do?

    • We've asked the Minister of Transport and others. No answers yet.


 
 
 

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