Aurora College went too far when it asked students for information about their Covid-19 isolation plans during the pandemic, the NWT’s privacy commissioner says.
Andrew Fox’s ruling, finalized earlier this year, applies to how the college handled the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
At the time, anyone entering the NWT had to isolate for two weeks and provide a self-isolation plan to the territorial government. Anyone exposed to someone with Covid-19 had to isolate for the same two-week period.
Aurora College told people living in its student housing that they had to give the college information about their travel plans, self-isolation plans and compliance with isolation requirements.
Fox found the college didn’t have the legal authority to ask for any health information, despite the college saying it had bylaws and policies in place that made requesting the information appropriate.
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“The issue is not whether the collection of information might be a good policy approach in a given situation, or whether collection of information could be viewed as ‘in the best interests of students, staff, or the community at large.’ The issue is whether collection is legal or not,” Fox wrote.
“There are limits on what the college can do. It delivers adult and post-secondary education programs. Aurora College has no legal mandate to manage public health or the health of its students.”
The college can still have rules like restricting access to a laundry room so that people isolating can’t enter, Fox added. But it can’t request health information from students to make policing that easier.
“In my view, this intrudes quite seriously into individuals’ privacy,” he wrote.
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Luxury of hindsight
The case came to light after a student asked the privacy commissioner to review whether the college’s requests were legal.
The student said they had also been accused by a security guard at Yellowknife’s Northern United Place – where they lived – of breaking isolation, when they had in fact left the building to attend an appointment.
Fox can’t investigate that as the security guard works for a private company not controlled by Aurora College, but he noted the guard “had no legal authority to investigate and enforce public health orders.” How the guard could have known the student’s isolation status remains a mystery, Fox added.
Fox recommended that the college make sure its bylaws and policies comply with the law, stop collecting any students’ personal information except in specific circumstances set out in law, and securely destroy any information still held that relates to Covid-19 isolation plans.
“I acknowledge that there is a certain luxury in making this sort of evaluation with the benefit of hindsight, time, and the absence of the looming pressure of a serious pandemic,” he wrote.
“It is fair to observe that the college did not have this luxury and was, nevertheless, attempting to do the best it could to serve the needs of its students and staff.”
