Phillip Gregoire and 200 of his fellow medical students at the University of Toronto (U of T) are petitioning to stop the release of suicide attempt records.
At present, Toronto police automatically disclose suicide attempt records in a national police database.
The database, which is run by the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) and the RCMP, is accessible to one’s potential employer during background checks, to the FBI, and to the American Border Agency.
Mark Pugash, communications director for the Toronto Police Service, said the information on the database is “vitally important” to responding police officers and the records are not released indiscriminately.
“The only reason we put information on CPIC is so that other law enforcement agencies across Canada can have access to that,” Pugash said. “That was the decision of the federal government over which we have no control. Our concern is law enforcement agencies, no one else.”
Gregoire said he agrees the availability of information among police is a good idea “in theory,” but he said there are problems with the current policy of gathering and releasing the suicide attempt records.
“Toronto police are suggesting that they have to do it, and I don’t accept that,” Gregoire said. “I think there are solutions and I think the Privacy Commissioner’s propositions are totally reasonable.”
According to Gregoire, Ontario’s privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian is asking the Toronto police to stop the automatic release of all suicide attempt records, in favour of a policy that only releases the records in cases that might impact public safety.
“What we’re really advocating for is that the recommendations of the Privacy Commissioner get implemented,” Gregoire said.
Pugash said the entire issue has left Toronto police confused.
“In June 2013, the Privacy Commissioner seemed to be content with our collection of the information. They said they believed it was lawful and they saw value as far as public safety is concerned. They’ve switched their position,” Pugash said.
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) has released a statement in support of Gregoire and Cavoukian.
“The OMA supports recent action taken by Ontario Privacy Commissioner Dr. Ann Cavoukian to prevent the indiscriminate disclosure of attempted suicide information by the Toronto Police Service,” the statement said.
The statement said that Ontario doctors believe protecting patients’ personal health information, especially mental health information, is of the utmost importance and should only be released in certain circumstances.
“All threats of suicide or suicide attempts are not indicative of future harm to others and discretion should be exercised appropriately before entering this data into the Canadian Police Information Centre,” the statement said.
Ottawa police also gather suicide attempt records for the CPIC database.
“We follow the guidelines from the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario and the CPIC,” said Const. Marc Soucy of the Ottawa Police Service. “We have not received any complaints.”
