A privacy breach by the federal government has added insult to injury for 247 Canadian passengers who spent weeks in quarantine aboard a beleaguered cruise ship where four people died from COVID-19 and dozens more tested positive.
David and Norma Kirkham of Metchosin were among the Canadian passengers on the Holland America cruise ship MS Zaandam, which finally made it to shore in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 2, after being at sea since mid-March.
The privacy breach occurred April 1 when a procedural email from Global Affairs Canada, the federal agency in charge of diplomatic and consular relations, was updating ship passengers on their re-entry into Canada.
“I scroll down and lo and behold, there’s all 247 Canadian passengers with all their personal information — their addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and the numbers of their passports,” said David Kirkham, who returned home to Metchosin on April 3.
“Look, mistakes were made, and that happens. Holland America has been first-rate — we have absolutely nothing to complain about. It’s Global Affairs that has to eat this one.”
Global Affairs Canada later recalled the offending email, calling it “an administrative error” in a separate email sent to passengers on April 10. Kirkham said the Metchosin couple was asked to monitor their banking accounts for suspicious activity over the next 36 months. Global Affairs has yet to adequately remedy the situation, he said.
“They came up with this apology later. But the toothpaste was already out of the tube — you can’t push it back in.”
The Times Colonist sent a request for comment to Global Affairs Canada but did not receive a reply Wednesday.
Margaret Tilley of Nanaimo and Wendy Mitchell of Victoria, among other Vancouver Island passengers onboard the MS Zaandam, have been vocal in the media about the government’s lack of response thus far.
Kirkham also wrote a letter of complaint to the office Tuesday. He wants the agency to issue new 10-year passports without charge, and pick up the tab for two years’ worth of credit monitoring.
“Someone screwed up big time. But what I’m a little bit surprised about is that Global Affairs thought it would just sort of go away. It’s out there. Why wouldn’t they make it good and issue new passports? It’s been a couple of weeks. They had the time to sit down and figure out what the appropriate measures would be, and they have done nothing.
“We’re waiting to hear what they’re going to do for us. The ball’s in their court — they created the mess. They’ve got to fix it.”
