Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (hrsdc) has sent out letters to 583,000 former student loan borrowers whose information was lost when the federal government misplaced a hard drive containing their personal information — with one small problem. Multiple recipients have reported receiving letters addressed to other people in the same envelope as their own letter.
These double letters, which contain names and mailing addresses, but not social insurance numbers, have been attributed to a printing error. According to an hrsdc spokesperson, 100 letters may have been mailed incorrectly.
The privacy breach has prompted harsh criticism of the federal agency that lost the hard drive, and prompted a class action lawsuit. Led by former loan recipient Mark Fillier, a group of those affected plans to send letters to all members of Parliament, urging them to take the breach seriously and fund credit monitoring for those affected. For now, hrsdc is leading an investigation into the privacy breach.
With files from the CBC
