Minister breached privacy laws
Personal emails to teachers lacked ‘transparency’
Education Minister Jeff Johnson breached provincial privacy legislation last year when he sent a mass message to thousands of teachers using personal email addresses gleaned from the Alberta Teacher Registry, the information and privacy commissioner ruled Thursday.
Johnson sent the email Feb. 6 to 34,328 teachers’ business and personal email addresses, sharing his thoughts on education and encouraging teachers to contact him.
He used the registrar’s teachers-certification contact list to send the email, and did so while school boards were negotiating collective agreements with local teacher unions.
At the time, Johnson said the emails were a legitimate way to connect with teachers and had resulted in valuable feedback to his ministry.
“I certainly respect that there was a complaint and that there will be an investigation, but until we’re told, ‘Hey, you made a mistake, you crossed the line,’ we’re going to keep doing it because there’s a lot of value in it,” Johnson said last year.
On Thursday, privacy commissioner Jill Clayton, whose investigation was triggered after 34 recipients of the email filed complaints with her office, said that line had been crossed. “Even if you have the authority to share information, it is important to be upfront with people as to why their personal information is being collected and how it will be used,” Clayton said in a statement.
The personal email addresses had been collected by Alberta Education from teachers applying for certification and from school authorities for updating the registry.
In her ruling, Clayton recommended personal email addresses be removed from the education minister’s mailing list, that future mass emails from the minister to teachers include the authority to use and disclose personal information, and for school authorities to only include work-related emails in submissions to Alberta Education.
“The heart of this matter is transparency,” Clayton said. “This reduces the likelihood of complaints.”
In an email, Johnson said Alberta Education would review the commissioner’s ruling and develop a way to communicate with teachers — including by email — on work-related matters in line with the recommendations.
“It’s important to remember that many teachers aren’t provided with a work email account and have to use their personal email address in a professional capacity,” he said. “They deserve to receive the same information provided to their colleagues. That being said, we’ll implement the commissioner’s recommendations and come to a solution.”
Mark Ramsankur, president of the ATA, said if Johnson is determined to communicate directly with teachers he should do so in accordance with the regulations.
“It was clearly stated that pulling names off the registrar list, especially personal email, is not appropriate,” said Ramsankur. “If any government official feels that they can trample on the individual privacy rights of an Albertan, what are they saying?”