Class-action lawsuit filed in B.C. over 2009 Interior Health data breach

By: The Canadian Press Posted: Last Modified:

Advertisement

Advertise with us

VANCOUVER - British Columbia's Interior Health Authority has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over a data breach in 2009 that allegedly compromised thousands of employees' personal information that ended up being sold on the dark web.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/05/2025 (499 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER – British Columbia’s Interior Health Authority has been hit with a class-action lawsuit over a data breach in 2009 that allegedly compromised thousands of employees’ personal information that ended up being sold on the dark web.

The lawsuit filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday says the data breach occurred in December 2009, exposing “highly sensitive” personal information belonging to people who worked for the health authority between 2003 and 2009.

Court documents say the information was accessed by “cybercriminals and other malicious actors,” and the “full extent” of the hack still hasn’t been disclosed by Interior Health in the 16 years since.

A man uses a computer keyboard in Toronto in this Oct. 9, 2023 photo illustration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
A man uses a computer keyboard in Toronto in this Oct. 9, 2023 photo illustration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy

Former employee Rae Fergus, one of the lead plaintiffs, says her personal information has been used since 2022 to fraudulently get a car loan and a credit card, and to open a bank account without her “knowledge or consent.”

Susan Shaw, another proposed representative plaintiff who worked for the health authority, says in the lawsuits that she only found out about the data breach last month by reading a news article, and was allegedly offered two years of free credit monitoring after contacting Interior Health about it.

The lawsuit says police in Port Coquitlam, Surrey, and Vernon since 2017 have discovered documents containing Interior Health employee personal information, leading to the health authority publishing a notice online about the hack in March 2024, the “first public acknowledgment” of the breach.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2025.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

Report Error Submit a Tip

Advertisement

Learn more about Winnipeg Free Press Advertising solutions

More Stories

May be whiff of truth to ex’s odour ardour

Maureen Scurfield 5 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I ran into an old boyfriend I used to curl on a team with, and we went for drinks. We’ve been almost eight years apart, and I couldn’t remember why we broke up, as we always had such a great time together.

It wasn’t until the second date — this time on a weekend — that it came back to me, with a jolt. Pee-yew! I remembered he doesn’t use deodorant on weekends. Why? He enjoys his own body odour. I recalled that a bit too late, and it was just as awful as ever! I went home early.

Tonight, he called and I refused him another date. I said, “Think back. You remember why we broke up?” Then he said, “Oh yeah, you hated my no-deodorant weekend policy. Well, guess what? Some women don’t mind!” I said I really doubted that, and that ended the conversation. Miss L., wouldn’t any women find stinky underarms offensive?

— Sensitive Nose, Fort Richmond

22-year-old dead, 18-year-old in critical condition after Highway 8 crash

1 minute read Yesterday at 1:52 PM CDT

A 22-year-old man is dead and an 18-year-old is in hospital in critical condition after a two-vehicle crash on Highway 8 on Thursday evening.

A Gimli RCMP officer was driving north on the highway, near Riverton, when he witnessed the collision at about 6:45 p.m.

A vehicle headed north had passed the Mountie at a high speed before colliding with an SUV that was turning west onto Provincial Road 329 from Highway 8.

The driver of the first vehicle, an 18-year-old man from Arborg, was rushed to hospital by a helicopter ambulance with injuries RCMP describe as serious and life-threatening.

MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Winnipeg Jets head coach Scott Arniel said Thursday he built the club’s training camp around what other teams in the league did well after the Jets ended last season 26th overall in the standings.

Jets bench boss Arniel talks rebuilding from last season’s struggles

Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe 12 minute read Preview

Jets bench boss Arniel talks rebuilding from last season’s struggles

Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe 12 minute read Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026

Scott Arniel has a lot on his plate these days.

But the head coach of the Winnipeg Jets took some time Thursday to sit down with Free Press hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe to discuss a number of topics on the eve of a new hockey season. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Wiebe: What was the evaluation of last season like? What did you personally do in an attempt to improve after going from first-overall to 26th-overall?

I just went back and looked at things and made sure my communication was where it needed to be with my players. Was my communication where it needed to be with my boss, with my general manager (Kevin Cheveldayoff)? How our coaching staff worked. How we handled highs and lows. Things I felt I could have done better.

Read
Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026
Winnipeg Jet Tyrel Bauer (77) and Boston Bruin Mark Kastelic (47) fight during the first period in Winnipeg on Friday.

Living the dream

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read Preview

Living the dream

Ken Wiebe 7 minute read 4:48 PM CDT

DETROIT – As Tyrel Bauer took a left turn out of the tunnel from the Winnipeg Jets dressing room and into the stands, he was met with a hearty round of applause from the 25 friends and family members who had made the trek from various points around North America.

Bauer had just realized a childhood dream and the significance of the moment was not lost on some of his biggest supporters.

“It was a special walk, for sure. A special walk,” Bauer said on Saturday afternoon before the Jets departed for a two-game road trip that begins on Sunday in Detroit against the Red Wings. “Those people who came – and many more that weren’t there and were cheering on from afar – they’ve always been there.

“I wanted that for my family, maybe even more than I wanted it for me. They’ve been through thick and thin. I’ve stressed mom out quite a bit over the years doing my job. That meant a lot for them and I’m really happy they could be there for it.”

Read
4:48 PM CDT
INSTAGRAM Prediction contracts let you ‘invest’ in whether Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry will get married.

Broadening prediction-market gambling a bad idea

Editorial 4 minute read Preview

Broadening prediction-market gambling a bad idea

Editorial 4 minute read 2:01 AM CDT

Let’s make a prediction: sooner or later, when Canadian governments find a way to take their own cut of the action, prediction-contract gambling on everything from sports to entertainment to political decisions is going to come to Canada.

And that’s a horrible, dangerous, pernicious idea.

Unless you have particular access to information — either inside information or strategic information based on skills or education — you’re not likely to make money at it. In fact, structurally, you’re likely to lose. In prediction markets, you basically pay an amount, plus fees from the company involved, to bet on whether something will or will not happen within a certain time frame. The amount you pay for your contract depends on how other people are also betting.

As Wealthsimple describes it, “You buy whichever side you think is right. Prices move with demand, so if the market leans towards one outcome, the more that side costs. If a lot of people are backing the TSX to finish above 38,000, yes gets more expensive and no gets cheaper.”

Read
2:01 AM CDT
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press Local A volunteer-led pop-up library at the Manitoba Youth Centre has been shut down by the province, leaving experts and advocates baffled.

Volunteer pop-up library axed from Manitoba Youth Centre

Matthew Frank 4 minute read Preview

Volunteer pop-up library axed from Manitoba Youth Centre

Matthew Frank 4 minute read Updated: 11:25 AM CDT

Manitoba Corrections has cancelled a pop-up library program at the Manitoba Youth Centre, leaving inmates without librarian services and fewer options to borrow certain books.

The Prison Libraries Committee, part of the non-profit Manitoba Library Association, operated and funded the volunteer program since 2024 before it was shut down by the province last month. The group previously partnered with the province to offer the service because the facility has no dedicated library of its own.

“It is concerning that community members who are incarcerated, especially youth, are losing out on meaningful programming, access to information and rehabilitation efforts, which are offered at no cost to (Manitoba) Corrections. We urge Manitoba Justice to promote more library services and programming, not less,” said a Sept. 24 letter from the non-profit addressed to the justice minister.

Ashley Huot, chair of the Prison Libraries Committee, said she was puzzled when she received an email last month from Manitoba Corrections stating that the pop-up library was no longer needed.

Read
Updated: 11:25 AM CDT