Personal info about military sex misconduct claimants inadvertently released

Published February 9, 2022 at 3:48 pm

OTTAWA — The company administering the federal government’s $900-million settlement with Armed Forces members and veterans who experienced sexual misconduct says it inadvertently released private information about dozens of claimants.

Epiq Class Action Services Canada says the scope of the privacy breach is limited, with the names and email addresses of around 100 of the 20,000 people who have applied for compensation having been mistakenly sent to another claimant.

The company says “human error” was to blame and that it has contacted those affected by the breach and taken steps to ensure a similar mistake doesn’t occur in the future.

Epiq was responding to a request for comment after Afghan war veteran Amy Green said she had received an email from the company containing the personal information of dozens of other Armed Forces members and veterans involved in the settlement deal.

Green says the email included enough information to access certain parts of a claimant’s file, and that despite the company’s assurances, she is both shocked and concerned about the privacy breach given the sensitivity of the issue.

She also questions whether the company would have acted had she not come forward to report the mistake.