"The tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ‘state of emergency' in which we live is not the exception but the rule...There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism. And just as such a document is not free of barbarism, barbarism taints also the manner in which it was transmitted from one owner to another. A historical materialist therefore dissociates himself from it as far as possible. He regards it as his task to brush history against the grain."
Walter Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History."

BILL 160 ALLOWS MINISTER OF EDUCATION TO ASSIGN IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS BASED ON STUDENT'S PERSONAL DATA

For students of Ontario, Bill 160, if passed in its present form, cancels all privacy safeguards enshrined in Ontario Human Rights Legislation. The bill will allow the Ministry of Education to investigate, record and disclose every aspect of a student's identity including, race, religion, sexual preferences and political opinions. This unprecedented violation of human rights begins in a deceptively innocuous manner - the assignment of an education number to each student in the province.

First we are given a series of definitions:

Bill 160, Division F. section 266.2 (1) states: "The Minister may assign an Ontario education number to a person who is enrolled or who seeks admission to be enrolled in a prescribed educational or training institution."

Section 266.2 (2) states: "For the purpose of assigning an Ontario education number, the Minister and prescribed educational and training institutions are authorized to collect, directly or indirectly, personal information."

Directly obtained personal information refers to information that is given by the individual; indirectly obtained information is information obtained by any other means.

Naturally we need to know exactly what type of information the Minister wants to collect and we would expect to find this clearly stated in the bill. Instead we get a curious run around, with definitions referenced and cross-referenced to other bills.

Here is the trail we must follow:

What is the nature of this personal information that is to be encoded into an Ontario student's identification number?

If you back up to section 266.1 you will find it defined as follows: "In sections 266.2 to 266.5, "personal information" means personal information within the meaning of section 38 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and section 28 of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act."

If you look up these Acts, you will find that the specified sections are identical, and state (section 38 (1), Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) "In this section and section 39, "personal information" includes information that is not recorded and that is otherwise defined as "personal information" under this Act."

Finally we come to it. Here is the list of characteristics which the Minister feels he/she must have the power to collect on our children in order to have quality education. Notice that the list even includes hearsay comments (gossip).

Now, if you go to the definitions section of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, you finally can see the nature of the personal information that is to be encoded into the student's identification number.

The Act states: ""personal information" means recorded information about an identifiable individual, including,

(a) information relating to the race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation or marital or family status of the individual,

(b) information relating to the education or the medical, psychiatric, psychological, criminal or employment history of the individual or information relating to financial transactions in which the individual has been involved,

(c) any identifying number, symbol or other particular assigned to the individual,

(d) the address, telephone number, fingerprints or blood type of the individual,

(e) the personal opinions or views of the individual except where they relate to another individual,

(f) correspondence sent to an institution by the individual that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature, and replies to that correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence,

(g) the views or opinions of another individual about the individual, and

(h) the individual's name where it appears with other personal information relating to the individual or where the disclosure of the name would reveal other personal information about the individual."

The terrible irony here, is that this list is given in a document whose purpose is to protect the privacy of Ontario citizens. This list was compiled for the "Protection of Privacy." Now we have bill 160 which perversely inverts the intention and uses the list to invade the privacy of our children.

I'm sure that you'll be relieved to know that "Personal information does not include information about an individual who has been dead for more than 30 years." However, any (or all) of the above information could be encoded into a student's number.

Now, if you go back to Bill 160 and continue reading, you will see that (section 266.2 (3)): "Subsection 39 (2) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and subsection 29 (2) of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act do not apply to a collection under subsection (2)."

The authors of the Privacy legislation also wanted to guarantee that when a government agency collects information about its citizens, that the citizen must be told about that process and given access to the data. Bill 160 takes great care to specifically remove this basic right from our children.

Note that Bill 160 is now saying that the relevant subsections of these protection Acts do NOT apply to subsection 266.2 (2) of Bill 160.

Again the specified subsections of the two protection Acts are almost identical. (Subsection 39 (2) is slightly more detailed.) It states (under the heading of "Notice to Individual"): "Where personal information is collected on behalf of an institution, the head shall, unless notice is waived by the responsible minister, inform the individual to whom the information relates of,

(a) the legal authority for the collection;

(b) the principal purpose or purposes for which the personal information is intended to be used; and

(c) the title, business address and business telephone number of a public official who can answer the individual's questions about the collection."

It appears that this information can be accumulated secretly, without telling the student involved. However, the Minister can disclose the information.

One of the fundamental safeguards in our society is that information collected about an individual by the government may not be revealed to anyone, without that individual's permission. This fundamental safeguard is also denied to our children.

Bill 160, Subsection 266.2 (4) states: "For the purpose of assigning an Ontario education number, the Minister and prescribed educational and training institutions may use or disclose personal information and the disclosure shall be deemed to be for the purposes of complying with this Act."

When can the Minister disclose this information? If you go on to read Subsections 266.3 (3) and 266.5 (1) (b), you will find that the Minister and a person to be named by the Lieutenant Governor in Council (Provincial Cabinet) may disclose a student's personal Ontario education number "for purposes related to education administration, funding, planning or research."

Now, I ask you, when was the last time that a group of people could be identified based on their religion, and the information disclosed for "research purposes"?

This government has effectively turned the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act upside down, giving the Minister access to the types of personal information that were meant (by the Act) to be kept confidential, denying the individual the right to know that personal information is being accumulated about them, and worst of all, they're doing it to our children.

When are we (teachers, and the people in the province of Ontario), going to wake up and see what's going on here?

Rick Jones
Teacher
Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute
Kitchener
NOTES:

Please feel free to copy, e-mail, and/or fax this letter province-wide. Get it to the media, parents, human rights organizations, community groups, and the various Faith communities. The TRUTH needs to get out there. We are staring into the face of Fascism.

A legal counsel in the education ministry has confirmed that Bill 160 will give the government the power to delve into private information about our children.