700 Camp fYrefly participants, volunteers, leaders affected by privacy breach
A former employee at the University of Alberta breached the privacy of 700 people by downloading personal information in February and March, the university says.
The employee was working in the university's Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services with Camp fYrefly, a summer camp for LGBTQ2 youth.
"We are deeply dismayed about this occurrence, and we recognize that this news will be troubling to many members of our Camp fYrefly community," Steven Dew, provost and vice-president academic, said in a news release Thursday.
As part of the job, the employee had access to electronic files containing information belonging to campers, volunteers, youth leaders and facilitators who attended the camp between 2014 and 2018.
The personal information was taken from Camp fYrefly online application forms and included contact information, gender identification, sexual orientation, medical conditions, medications taken, dietary restrictions, emergency caregiver's contact information and previous participation in the camp.
The university sought a court order to make sure the files were deleted.
The former employee, who was let go last month but is co-operating with the investigation, assured the university the information was not used or distributed and all records were deleted.
The investigation also found the employee shared files containing information of 200 people with a youth advisory group that helped plan the Edmonton camp.
Logs show two members of the youth advisory group accessed the shared documents, but did not share the information and have since deleted it.
The university reported the incidents to Alberta's Information & Privacy Commissioner and notified camp participants who may have been affected, where possible.
The university said it believes the privacy breach has been contained.
The university said it has notified affected individuals where possible, but is urging anyone who has not heard from the university and thinks they may be affected to call 780-492-4400 during business hours or email FOIPP@ualberta.ca.
Last month, the university cancelled Camp fYrefly in Edmonton and moved it to a provincial retreat in Canmore.
