Manitoba seeks to set new CFS data rules

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This article was published 26/05/2022 (1240 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A bill introduced Tuesday in the Manitoba legislature sets out new rules and authority for information sharing between those who administer the Child and Family Services Act and the Indigenous governing bodies and Indigenous service providers who administer Indigenous laws respecting CFS.

The four key changes, Families Minister Rochelle Squires said in a news release, are to:

• Provide Indigenous governing bodies and Indigenous service providers with access to information about children and families receiving services;

• Authorize the administrative transfer of service responsibility;

• Enable the use of the provincial CFS electronic information system and the child abuse registry;

• Protect certain information (Indigenous service providers’ records uploaded to the provincial CFS electronic information system, closed records, sources of referral and child abuse registry information) shared under the act.

The bill establishes authority for the disclosure of personal information and health information to Indigenous service providers by public bodies and trustees, when requested for the purpose of ensuring the safety, health or well-being of children.

Existing provisions respecting access to the child abuse registry, the transfer of supervision of care and guardianship of children in care, the disclosure of information when planning for or providing services and access to closed records are also clarified.