Security breach raises ruckus in B.C. legislature

A B.C. cabinet minister has confirmed that he and his colleagues weren't told of a major security breach for nearly seven months — news that triggered an uproar in the legislature Wednesday.

Investigators were trying to determine how the confidential files of 1,400 social assistance clients ended up in the home of a caseworker.

The RCMP discovered the files in April, then told the government in May, said Citizen Services Minister Ben Stewart, who is also responsible for information and privacy.

Delay still a mystery

But the news didn't reach the cabinet until late October, a delay Stewart told the legislature he could not yet explain.

"Once we have the facts … we'll make people accountable for whatever wrongdoing there's been done and we'll release that information to the opposition in this house," Stewart said.

"It took seven months for the government to get its act together," said NDP MLA Doug Routley.

Usually an accusation like that prompts an angry denial from the government benches, but not on this day.

Minister contrite

"I can honestly tell you when I first heard about it I was sickened," Stewart told reporters later.

The minister said he didn't know who in government first got the information or why it took so long for communications staff to inform his ministerial assistant.

"The reality is that I'm not trying to pick who to blame or who should have done what. That's what the investigation is all about."

Only after Stewart learned about the security breach this fall was the caseworker who took the documents fired. And only in the past week were the people named in the files notified, a delay the opposition called incomprehensible.