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Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013
Probe into massive data breach widens INCLUDES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT BY THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — A investigation into the federal government’s loss of personal information on over 5,000 Canadians has widened to include the Justice Department. The loss of a portable data key containing information connected to Canada Pension Plan disability benefits was initially thought to involve only Human Resources and Development Canada, which administers the program. But those who filed complaints to the privacy commissioner’s office over
the data breach are now being told the incident may have included another department. “I wish to advise you that it has come to our attention that an employee from the Department of Justice Canada may also have been involved in the incident which resulted in the loss of the USB device,” says the letter. It goes on to inform recipients a complaint against the Justice Department was filed Jan. 28. “Our office is therefore investigating both HRSDC and Justice Canada regarding the incident,” says the letter, dated Feb. 14. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The same day as the letter, senior officials from the Human Resources
Department were before a House of Commons committee testifying about the breach. No mention was made of the possibility another department was involved. The committee was told that USB key went missing Nov. 16, two days after it was loaded with unencrypted information on 5,045 people, including their social insurance number, medical conditions, level of education and jobs. The key was handed to an employee working on a secure floor at Human Resources who used it the next day, but then couldn’t find it. The committee heard that the search for the missing stick included an employee’s home and office, and even a taxi they had taken home the
day after the stick was received. It was never recovered. About 10 days earlier, an employee in a different division at Human Resources had also misplaced an external hard drive — that device contained student loan information on 583,000 Canadians. That incident is also under investigation. A spokeswoman for the privacy commissioner said at this point that investigation remains focused on Human Resources. “We’ve opened a complaint against the Department of Justice in relation to the incident involving loss of the information stored on the USB key — not in relation to the other (student loan info) breach,” Anne-Marie Hayden said in an email.
Duffy still in hot seat despite repayment of Senate housing allowance BY THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — Mike Duffy may have hoped controversy over his expenses and eligibility to sit in the Senate would go away after his offer to repay tens of thousands in an improperly collected housing allowance. But the Conservative senator’s explanation — that confusing paperwork is to blame for his innocent mistake — isn’t washing with opposition leaders in either of Parliament’s two chambers. Sen. James Cowan, Liberal leader in the upper chamber, says he doesn’t understand how anyone could find the paperwork confusing. What’s more, Cowan questions whether senators who don’t live, vote, pay taxes, hold health care cards and driver’s licences in their so-called home provinces are even entitled to sit in the Senate at all. By that standard, Duffy and possibly two other Conservative senators — Pamela Wallin and Dennis Patterson — may not meet the constitutional re-
Arrests made in gangland slaying
quirement that senators must reside in the provinces or territories they were appointed to represent. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is raising the same doubts in the House of Commons. For its part, the government insists Duffy, Wallin and Patterson all maintain sufficiently deep ties to their home provinces or territories to meet the undefined constitutional residency requirement. As for Duffy’s housing allowance, the government is urging opposition parties to await the results of a committee investigation and an external audit. Cowan’s criticism is a marked departure from a rare display of bi-partisanship earlier this month, when he and Marjory LeBreton, the government’s leader in the Senate, demanded a swift and public resolution to allegations that some senators have been abusing the housing allowance. The allowance is meant to compensate those who maintain a secondary residence in the National Capital Region while performing their parliamentary duties. At least three senators — Duffy, fellow Conserva-
tive Patrick Brazeau and Liberal Mac Harb — are alleged to have claimed the allowance even though their primary residences are actually in the capital region. Cowan and LeBreton jointly asked the Senate’s internal economy committee to interview senators who have made questionable claims for the housing allowance to determine the validity of their claims and demand repayment, with interest, where necessary. Those interviews began Monday. Cowan said he didn’t know how many senators are being interviewed or their names. While he didn’t name Duffy specifically, he made it clear he doesn’t think his explanation for mistakenly claiming the allowance, when his primary residence is in Ottawa, holds water. Cowan said he’s filled out the same paperwork Duffy has called vague and confusing and found it clear and straightforward. “In this declaration of primary and secondary residences, there’s no confusion in my mind about this form,” Cowan said in an interview.
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DELTA, B.C. — Three men suspected in the bloody shooting death of an organized crime kingpin outside a Kelowna, B.C., hotel nearly two years ago have been arrested, but police say that may not put an end to the periodic gangland killings in the province. The suspects are accused in the first-degree murder of Red Scorpion boss Jonathan Bacon and are alleged to have gang ties, RCMP announced Monday. Officials with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said the men were nabbed Friday in a large-scale takedown involving 100 officers in Vancouver, Surrey, B.C., and Toronto. It would be “naive” to think that removing some central figures in the recent rash of violent activity will cap it, said RCMP Assistant Commissioner Wayne Rideout. “This is going to go on for some time,” he told a news conference. “We are doing everything we can to reduce that risk and to identify and disrupt and arrest those involved, but it’s not over.” “I still have 50 investigators that are working on that case this week,” said the unit’s Chief Officer Dan Malo. “I fully expect that I’ll have 50 investigators working on that case for several weeks to come.” Jujhur Khun-Khun, 25, of Surrey, Michael Jones, 25, of Gibsons, and 37-year-old North Vancouver resident Jason McBride — who recently moved to Toronto — have also been charged with attempting to murder four people who were with Bacon. Matthew Nathanson, who is the legal counsel for McBride, said his client is expected to appear in Kelowna provincial court March 21. “The allegations against my client are very serious, but at this stage they are nothing more than allegations,” he said. “My client is presumed to be innocent of all of these offences, and at this stage absolutely nothing has been proven against him.