Prairie Health Information Privacy Day 2007

Gail has been a lawyer with Civil Legal Services (CLS) of Manitoba Justice since her call to the Manitoba Bar, and was appointed General Counsel in 1990. She is also the team leader for the CLS Crown Law team of lawyers and the senior lawyer on CLS's Access and Privacy Law Group. Gail's legal practice is varied, and her involvement with access to information and privacy issues dates back to 1985 with the passage of Manitoba's former Freedom of Information Act. In 1996 - 1997, she was involved in the development and drafting of The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and The Personal Health Information Act, and she continues to be involved in the implementation of these Acts.

Trish Livingstone, MA, is currently employed as the Director of Health Information Policy and Analysis, and Chief Privacy and Access Officer, with Saskatchewan Health. She has been an employee of the Saskatchewan public service for nearly 10 years and has experience in a variety of areas including privacy and access, health policy and program development, applied research, and performance planning and measurement. Trish's role includes managing and implementing a privacy framework for the health sector including developing new information / privacy policies to ensure compliance with applicable legislation.

Wendy Robillard is the Senior Manager of the Information Policy and Compliance Unit at Alberta Health and Wellness. The Unit is responsible for policy development and interpretation, for establishing and implementing appropriate security standards and for maintaining the privacy framework. The Unit provides leadership and direction to both the health sector and the department regarding the Health Information Act (HIA). The Unit assists in the development of e-health information management initiatives including the provincial electronic health record known as Alberta Netcare, ensuring health information is collected, used, protected and disclosed in compliance with HIA and other legislative requirements. Wendy was on the technical support team for the HIA Review conducted in 2004 and provides ongoing support to the Electronic Health Record Data Stewardship Committee. She capitalizes on her previous experience as a front line worker in the health sector and takes a pragmatic approach in addressing privacy, security and policy related issues.

Mark Pettitt is a Registered Dietitian who has held positions in clinical nutrition, food service management, and public health nutrition. While working as a Quality of Care Coordinator for the Sun Country Regional Health Authority, Mark was designated as the regionÕs Privacy Officer when The Health Information Protection Act (HIPA) was proclaimed in September of 2003. Since that time, he has assumed the role of the Regional Director of CQI and Strategic Planning but has maintained the Privacy Officer responsibility.

Shelley Barnes was appointed the Regional Health Authority - Central Manitoba Inc.'s Electronic Health Records Coordinator in November 2006. She is responsible for coordinating the deployment efforts of an electronic health record (EHR) across the continuum of care including the complete development of an EHR Team. Specifically, she will establish a competent group of core staff who will function in a project team environment tasked with the development and implementation of a region-wide health record.

Patricia Kosseim is General Counsel at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) since January 2005. Before joining OPC, Patricia spent five years at the Ethics Office of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research leading major policy initiatives on ethical/legal/social issues related to health research. During this period, she was briefly seconded to Canada Health Infoway Inc. to advise on legal issues related to the development of pan-Canadian electronic health record systems. Prior to this, Patricia practiced in Montreal for over six years with a major national law firm in areas of human rights, health law, labour and employment law, administrative law and professional regulation/liability. Patricia was called to the QuŽbec Bar in 1993. She holds degrees in Business and in Law from McGill University, as well as a Master's Degree in Medical Law and Ethics from King's College,London, U.K.

Dawn is Information Access and Privacy Services Consultant for the Palliser Health Region, encompassing Medicine Hat and area in Alberta. Her responsibilities include chairing a Regional Access Management Committee, coordinating the education and training to all employees and contracted affiliates with in the Region, and establishing policy, guidelines and best practices in access and privacy. Dawn is the liaison between the Region and Law Enforcement and the single point of contact for Research for Palliser. In addition Dawn sits on various provincial steering committees on Research and Ethics and Alberta Health's Information Access and Privacy Committee. Dawn a graduate of the University of Alberta's IAPP Program (2006) and is perusing her education towards obtaining a degree in Law.

Bryan Salte is currently the Associate Registrar, Legal Counsel and Privacy Officer of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan. Bryan's primary responsibilities include preparing and presenting discipline cases to the discipline committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, drafting bylaws for consideration by the Council of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and representing the College of Physicians and Surgeons in court matters. Bryan received his B.Ed. in 1975 and LL.B. 1978 both from the University of Saskatchewan. Before joining the College, Bryan practiced with Robertson Stromberg and its predecessor firms from 1979 to 1999.

Mike Tolfree manages the Information & Privacy Department of the Calgary Health Region. The Calgary Health Region is one of the largest health organizations in Canada, employing 24,000 individuals and providing a wide range of health care services to over one million people. His responsibilities include: ensuring compliance with privacy legislation, contract negotiation, drafting and review, mitigating and remediating breaches of patient confidentiality and responding to freedom of information requests.

Mr. John Swiniarski is an Assistant Registrar with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta (Canada). Following his MBA from the University of Alberta in 1979, he went to work for the Alberta Medical Association. During his ten years there, Mr. Swiniarski was responsible for the economic research to support the AMAÕs fee negotiations, the fee allocation process, and Association operations. As well, Mr. Swiniarski represents the College on various aspects of the Alberta NetCare initiative (a province-wide health information system), including chairing the Pharmaceutical Information Network Stewardship Committee.

Landis assumed the role as WRHA Chief Privacy Officer July of 2006. Prior to taking on this new challenge, Landis spent the past 18 years managing Health Information Services at St. Boniface General Hospital and Community Health Services. She also has nine years experience as an Education Consultant with Canadian Healthcare Association. During her years with Community Health Services, Landis was project lead on the development of requirements, selection of a vendor, and implementation of a solution to meet the needs of an integrated EHR. Landis is also a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals.

Jayden Stephens is the Privacy Officer for Saskatoon Health Region, Saskatchewan's largest Health Region and the province's largest employer. His responsibilities span the areas of privacy and access providing support to the numerous programs delivered regionally, provincially and nationally. Over his six years with the Saskatoon Health Region his role within privacy evolved from his work within the Electronic Health Record development and he continues to provide ongoing support to provincial, regional and national Electronic Health Record advancement. He has chaired numerous community boards and is an active volunteer within Saskatoon.

Heather McLaren is the Director of the Legislative Unit at Manitoba Health. She was involved in the policy development and drafting of The Personal Health Information Act and the Personal Health Information Regulation, both of which have been in force since December 1997. Since that time, she has directed the development and dissemination of informational materials on the Act and the regulation and has participated in federal/provincial/territorial working groups on privacy of health information. She has also delivered presentations at national conferences on implementation of the legislation. Her unit continues to be the first contact point for trustees and the public who have questions about the legislation.

Robert Martin is responsible for the information security policy, controls and auditing of Alberta Health and Wellness and the Alberta Electronic Health Record. Prior to joining the Government of Alberta, Robert consulted for numerous Canadian and American organizations on all aspects of information security, and he has delivered over 35 courses on information security and enterprise networking.