A group of legal and civil liberty organizations is looking to challenge an Ontario law that allows personal information about people with COVID-19 to be shared with police. The province in April issued an emergency order allowing police, firefighters and paramedics to access what it called "critical information" about people confirmed to be infected. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) says sharing that information with police breaches provincial privacy protections and violates individuals' constitutional rights to privacy and equality. The move was meant "to protect Ontario's first responders and stop the spread of COVID-19," the province said at the time. The CCLA is joined in the challenge by Aboriginal Legal Services (ALS), the Black Legal Action Centre (BLAC) and the HIV & AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario (HALCO) — all of which say sharing health information stands to further strain the relationship between police and their communities.

Source: CBC News July 16, 2020 15:45 UTC