Newsletter
Privacy Preoccupations
Melanie Millar-Chapman,
Senior Research Analyst
OPC employees specialize in a range of issues. For senior research analyst Melanie Millar-Chapman, health privacy tops the list of issues she focuses on every day on behalf of Canadians.
How do you contribute to the promotion and protection of privacy in Canada?
I'm part of the Research, Education and Outreach Branch and work primarily on issues related to health privacy. I really enjoy this work because it cuts across both of the Commissioner's mandates in the private and public sectors. It also involves a good deal of contact with our provincial and territorial colleagues as well as officials in federal departments, privacy advocates, and the broader health community.
I’ve worked on health privacy issues for almost 10 years and had the pleasure of helping to promote our Office's position through my participation in working groups and contributing to Parliamentary committee appearances.
Keeping up with the incredibly rapid evolution of technologies and what those developments mean for privacy is a constant preoccupation of mine.
What privacy issues keep you up at night?
Maintaining patient trust in the electronic environment concerns me because you don't want people withholding crucial information from their health care providers because they're worried about who else will see it.
One of the cartoons from our 1998-1999 Annual Report remains a favourite of mine for getting this message across.
Health information privacy is an important issue and I appreciate the opportunity to work in this area at OPC.