Gov’t could be more transparent with COVID fine info: Privacy commissioner

Saskatchewan’s privacy commissioner believes the provincial government could do more to inform the public on COVID-19-related incidents.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Health revealed that a business had been fined $10,000 with a $4,000 surcharge for violating COVID-19 guidelines.

However, it did not share any information such as when or where the violation happened.

Ronald Kruzeniski, the privacy commissioner, said there is nothing stopping the government from revealing more details.

“As a general principle, (they should) release as much information (as possible), provided you don’t release the personal information of an individual,” he said.

“A business is not an individual, it’s a business name. So decision-makers are entitled to go as far as they can go in terms of releasing business names, dates, fine amounts, locations, that sort of thing.”

However, once officials begin to release that information, it sets a standard.

“They should be consistent in that whatever they release about Business A, then consistently release the same information about businesses B, C and D,” he said.

The same principle applies to individuals.

However, it appears there has been a lack of consistency when it comes to information revealed on COVID-19 fines for individuals.

On Sept. 17, it was announced that the organizer of a gathering in Saskatoon was fined $2,000 with an $800 surcharge. The person’s age was not revealed, but authorities did announce in which city the gathering was held and even the number of attendees.

On April 6, it was revealed a 23-year-old woman in Regina had been fined for violating a mandatory 14-day self-isolation period.

Far fewer details were revealed Thursday about an individual fined for not self-isolating when showing symptoms of the virus. No age or hometown was included.

“If they’re saying the amount of the fine, the date of the fine, the city or general location, if they’re saying the person was X years old, then I think they should consistently provide that information with all fines,” Kruzeniski said.

This lack of consistency is something he thinks could be due to the nature of COVID-19-related fines.

“This is a little bit of a new issue,” he said.

He has criticized the government on a lack of transparency relating to COVID-19 before, but he believes that in general, the authorities are trending in the right direction.

“When this started in March and April, I was certainly encouraging decision-makers to provide more information to the public,” he said. “I think the public interest is there.

“Many people have been adversely affected by this pandemic, whether it’s their health, their business or their employment. So more is better. Generally, decision-makers have been issuing more information.”