Ontario is investigating an alleged breach of 200,000 home care patients' personal health data, Health Minister Sylvia Jones said Friday.
Liberal health critic Adil Shamji said he has unearthed information that an Ontario Health atHome data breach affecting at least 200,000 patients occurred in mid-March and was never disclosed to the public.
"I remain significantly, significantly concerned that there is an urgent, clear and present risk to Ontario home care patients that deserve to know that sensitive personal health information has been compromised of theirs and specifically has not been disclosed," Shamji said.
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He did not reveal how he knows about the alleged breach, but has asked the information and privacy commissioner to investigate.
Ontario Health atHome is responsible for co-ordinating in-home and community-based care. Shamji said about one-third of all home care patients in the province have been affected.
He wrote to Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario Patricia Kosseim last week and again on Friday outlining his concerns.
Kosseim wrote back to Shamji on Friday, saying her office is looking into the matter.
"I can confirm the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has received a report of a privacy breach that aligns with the circumstances and date described in your letter," Kosseim wrote.
The province says Ontario Health atHome is investigating one particular vendor that held that data and whether private information was taken.
"Ontario Health and Ontario Health atHome will notify if there has been any form of breach to individual patients," Jones said.
Premier Doug Ford said the province will get to the bottom of it.
"We will find out where the gap is and why it wasn't brought to our attention a lot earlier," he said.
Ford said the matter is personal to him, after his and his brother Rob Ford's medical information was breached in 2014.
"Anyone who breaches health-care records needs to be fired immediately," Ford said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2025.
