Federal Court certifies privacy class action in the Marijuana case

It was announced yesterday that the Federal Court of Canada has certified the privacy class-action lawsuit involving 40,000 people which pertains to the medical marijuana access program. The case was launched in 2013 after Health Canada sent letters to people with the program’s name on the envelope. The envelope containing the letter explicitly identified the “Marihuana Medical Access Program” in the return address on the outside along with the name and address of the client recipient.

Recipients were upset, saying their privacy had been violated since there is still some stigma surrounding marijuana users. Many members of the medical marijuana access program raised that they were concerned that they might either lose their jobs or become victims of a home invasion.

In March this year, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada ruled that Health Canada had violated federal privacy laws although it could not order the Government of Canada to compensate class members harmed by the breach.

For details on this marijuana case, click here.

For details on the state of recent privacy class actions in Canada, the cases that are either pending or which were recently authorized, click here.

This content has been updated on July 29, 2015 at 10 h 10 min.