Privacy Awareness Week is a global effort held in May, coordinated by members of the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA), to promote awareness of privacy issues and the importance of the protection of personal information.

Ontario’s health privacy legislation, the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), establishes a set of rules regarding patients’ personal health information (PHI). PHIPA gives patients the right to:

• be informed of the reasons for the collection, use and disclosure of their personal health information
• be notified of the theft or loss or of the unauthorized use or disclosure of their personal health information
• refuse or give consent to the collection, use or disclosure of their personal health information, except in certain circumstances
• withdraw their consent by providing notice
• expressly instruct that their personal health information not be used or disclosed for health care purposes without their consent
• access a copy of their personal health information, except in limited circumstances
• request corrections be made to their health records
• complain to our office if they are refused access to their personal health information
• complain to our office if they are refused a correction request
• complain to our office about a privacy breach or potential breach; and
• begin a proceeding in court for damages for actual harm suffered after an order has been issued or a person has been convicted of an offence under PHIPA.

Source: Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario https://www.ipc.on.ca/health-individuals/file-a-health-privacy-complaint/your-health-privacy-rights-in-ontario/