Sask. immigration employee suspected of involvement in illegal immigration scheme

A Saskatchewan Ministry of Immigration employee has been accused of accessing private information to further an illegal immigration scheme.

A report by the information and privacy commissioner said the employee violated the privacy act by accessing applications of dozens of immigrants to the province.

“Immigration suspected that the employee was accessing its clients’ personal information and sharing it with a third party outside the ministry as part of an illegal immigration scheme,” Ronald Kruzeniski said in the report.

“The third-party sought money in exchange for the approval of their immigration application.”

While complaints against the conduct of the employee date back to 2020, the ministry official filed a privacy breach in February 2023.

“In its report, it indicated that an employee of its Immigration Services Branch had inappropriately accessed the personal information of 23 clients relating to their immigration applications,” Kruzeniski said.

An additional 17 individuals were also identified as being involved in the privacy breach, the report said. Kruzeniski said that the ministry suspected there may be others.

“I find that Immigration’s investigation did not comply with its own policy and best practices because it did not involve the [Chief Privacy and Access Officer] at the earliest opportunity,” Kruzeniski said.

The commissioner recommended that the ministry ensure staff are informed that they need to report all potential privacy breaches.

Kruzeniski said Immigration also needed to improve how it notifies individuals impacted by privacy breaches.

“I recommend that in the future, Immigration ensure that its notification letters address the risk of identity theft where the nature of the personal information involved, and other circumstances raise such a risk. I also recommend that, within 30 days, Immigration offer five years of credit monitoring to those affected parties who may be at risk of identity theft.”

The commissioner’s report was completed on May 31, 2023.