Completed Privacy Impact Assessments

The Government of Canada is committed to privacy and the protection of personal information used in the course of providing programs and services to the public. The Government of Canada’s Privacy Impact Assessment Policy is one of several tools designed to meet this commitment. This policy was created to ensure that individuals have a right to control the collection, use and disclosure of their personal information. Privacy Impact Assessments ensure that all privacy issues have been identified and resolved or mitigated.

We will post a summary on this site each time the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority conducts a Privacy Impact Assessment.

Privacy impact assessments

Electronic visitor management system

To protect the health of  employees, contractors and visitors, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority will be implementing an electronic visitor management system as part of its plan to prepare for a limited number of employees returning to the office on a voluntary basis in the summer and fall of 2020.

The electronic visitor management system will be used to sign in employees, contractors and visitors at reception. Before entering the port authority offices, they will be asked to complete an electronic questionnaire asking the following:

  • If they are sick and/or have symptoms of fever, cough or shortness of breath
  • If they have traveled outside of Canada in the past 14 days
  • If they have had close contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19
  • If they have had close contact with a person who has travelled outside of Canada in the past 14 days and has an acute respiratory illness

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, port authority staff we be asked to reschedule their time in the office.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority submitted a Privacy Compliance Evaluation to the office of the Privacy Commissioner in July 2020 for review prior to implementing its new electronic visitor management system software.

 Applicant tracking system

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is planning to use a new Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software, HireGround, starting June 2020.  Applicant information collected during the recruitment and selection process, such as cover letters and resumes, will be stored in this ATS.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority submitted a Privacy Impact Assessment to the office of the Privacy Commissioner in February 2020 for review prior to its transition to the new Applicant Tracking Software.  The Privacy Commissioner Office had no comments or recommendations for the port authority prior to implementation.

Office 365

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is moving its Microsoft Outlook email and SharePoint sites from on-premise storage to Cloud storage, as per its long term cloud strategy.  This move will strengthen the port authority’s security position and will enable workforce mobility and high availability of services. In addition to Microsoft Outlook, One Drive will be available to Vancouver Fraser Port Authority employees for document storage as well as other Microsoft Office 365 suite core services.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority submitted a Privacy Impact Assessment to the office of the Privacy Commissioner in December 2019 for review prior to its transition to Office 365.  The Privacy Commissioner Office had no comments or recommendations for the port authority prior to implementation.

Overt video monitoring

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority recognizes the need to balance an individual’s right to privacy and the need to ensure the safety and security of port authority employees, the public, visitors and port property.

The port authority uses video monitoring and recording technology solely in support of its programs, its operations, and for the protection of its employees and assets, while respecting the laws of Canada and the privacy rights of individuals and employees.

Information obtained through video monitoring and recording must relate to the protection of employees, port users, and the public, or the deterrence or detection of criminal activity, and will only be used for security, safety and law enforcement purposes. The installation of cameras and video monitoring are for the port authority’s offices at 999 Canada Place.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority submitted a Privacy Impact Assessment to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in July, 2016 for review prior to the implementation of the video monitoring initiative. The Privacy Commissioner provided five recommendations which were mitigated before any operation of the cameras and monitoring took place.

Communication recording

The 24/7 monitoring of operations is very crucial for the Operations and Security Department of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. In the day to day operations, hundreds of calls are received that may involve a verbal agreement or an action that will be taken by either side. Specifically:

  • in cases of emergencies to be able to capture all the information
  • to keep track of any verbal agreements
  • to ensure the port authority’s quality of service
  • to assist the port authority’s Operations Coordinators in their tasks (refresh their memory or retrace a specific detail)

Integrated with the Port of Vancouver’s camera system, the recording equipment will give the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority an excellent tool in case of any emergency or incident in all stages.

In the case of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority’s community feedback line, the recording will be to establish any trends in order to benefit the Port of Vancouver’s customers and the general public.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority submitted a Preliminary Privacy Impact Assessment to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner in 2006 in anticipation of the implementation of this initiative. In August 2007 the Office of the Privacy Commissioner provided its recommendations relating to the Preliminary Privacy Impact Assessment and the initiative in general. The initiative was put on hold and was implemented on October 1, 2012.

The recommendations by the  Office of the Privacy Commissioner were all addressed prior to implementation to mitigate any potential privacy risks to the personal information of individuals.