> Kitchener Waterloo Record
>
> 15 November 1997
>
> Privacy fear raised over education bill
> By Luisa D'Amato
>
> The Ontario government is poised to give itself the power to collect
> and disclose private information about students - including medical
> problems, sexual orientation and religious beliefs -without requiring
> the students' permission .
>
> And a Kitchener high school teacher, who is trying to mobilize protest
> against the provisions, calls them scary and much more harmful than the
> government's other controversial plans to cut teachers' preparation time
> and control class sizes. The government is "giving themselves absolute
> power to intrude into areas where they don't belong," said Rick Jones,
> who teaches electronics at Cameron Heights Collegiate in Kitchener.
>
> He discovered the provisions while studying Bill 160, the controversial
> legislation which centralizes control over education in Ontario and
> provoked a recent two-week teachers' strike.
>
> At the heart of the issue is Bill 160's plan to establish an Ontario
> education number for each student, which would be constant from
> kindergarten to post secondary education.
>
> Bill 160 which is awaiting third reading in the Ontario legislature,
> says the minister of education or educational and training institutions
> "are authorized to collect, directly or indirectly, personal
> information" that could be accessed through the student numbers.
>
> "Personal information" is declared to be the same kind of information
> that is protected by Ontario's Freedom of Information and Protection
> of Privacy Act, Bill 160 says. That includes a person's name, address
> and telephone number, but also blood type, psychiatric history,
> political opinions, race, religion, financial transactions, fingerprint
> information and other types of information widely considered to be
> private.
>
> Bill 160 also gives the power to the education minister, or educational
> institutions, to "use or disclose" personal information in assigning an
> Ontario education number. It does not clarify to whom the disclosure may
> be made.
>
> Deborah Goldberg, legal counsel with the education ministry, acknowledged
> Friday that the proposed legislation gives government the power to delve
> into private information. But she said the power isn't intended to be
> used in a sinister way.
>
> The government's intention "is probably limited to things like name,
> address, phone number and marks," although she agreed that "the
> legislation doesn't say that". Goldberg said she's not an expert on the
> proposals for student numbers. Ministry officials who have been
> closely involved were not available for comment Friday.
>
> Provisions for collecting information are in the bill because, in order
> for schools to gather even such seemingly innocuous information as a
> student's address and phone number, Goldberg said, a statute has to be
> passed.
>
> Jones is bothered that there are no prescribed limits on what
> information could be collected or disclosed. Nor does the bill give
> recourse to a student who doesn't want the information collected or
> given out.
>
> In fact, nothing in the legislation says the student needs to be told
> personal information about them is being gathered.
>
> Jones, a former business owner who says he voted for the Conservatives
> in the last election, says collecting some information might be a good
> thing.
>
> For example, if one knows which students don't have English as a first
> language, one could track them and test the effectiveness of different
> language-instruction methods, Jones said.
>
> But he can also see the potential for "unbelievable abuse. And there
> is nothing (in the legislation) to stop the abuse."
