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luman error caused gov’

_ to release personal info —

By SARAH A.
ZIMMERMAN
HUMAN ERROR is the
‘ root cause which led to the

Canada Revenue Agency -
(CRA) sending a: Thornhill —

man private information be-
longing to two people living
on Vancouver Island.
An’ investigation |
the incident reveals an em-
ployee at the Surrey Taxa-
tion Center mistakenly put
the information belonging to
the three individuals into the

- same envelope.

“It’s the kind of situa-
tion where you build in the

checks and balances where.’

one might make the mistake

and somebody else is sup-
posed to catch’ it but they
didn’t,” says CRA spokes~

person Dan McGrath. ;
_ “We take every situation
and .we see what the cor-

respondence was; where it. .
came from, backtrack it to .

find out how it was put in the

envelope, who might have -

put it in the envelope ‘and

- what checks and. balances

were there.” -

_ Jim Fulton received.-a
manila, envelope June 12
containing Social Insur-
ance Numbers, credit card
numbers, signatures, phone

numbers ‘and addresses be-.

longing to two people living
in Nanaimo and Victoria.
The Thornhill resident

~ raised thé alarm with Skee- -

na-Bulkley Valley MP Na-
than Cullen who in turn fired

’ offa letter to federal Minister :

of Finance Ralph Goodale
demanding an explanation

and a review of the: CRA’s
. procedure for. protecting the |

privacy of Canadians. -
Goodale does not oversee
the CRA so. the letter was

‘forwarded to, the minister in

‘New Staff Sergeant settles into city, job -

“with how they’re operating

TERRACE’S NEW RCMP

jar sergeant is settling
omfortably into his new job

dnd new hometown.

' “We've got a good crew

in there,” Staff Sergeant Eric

Stubbs said of the RCMP

into |

charge of the agency, John
McCallum.

McCallum has. yet to re-

spond to Cullen’s concerns
regarding the situation.

_ -But McGrath says steps e
have. been taken. to address

the mistake.

In this particular incident, \ |
and in all situations like this,

a team leader held a’ meet-

ing with all the staff in’ that ~-

department advising them of

the errorandemphasizingthe. §

‘importance of implementing
all the agency’s procedures

for avoiding these types of |

situations. =. st:
“They take. lots of pride

in their work and they take it: ©
very personally when some- °

thing goes wrong,” McGrath

said.
- The revenue agency sends ’

out 110° million. pieces of
correspondence each year. °

McGrath: That’s a roughly

-99,9999 per cent accuracy |

rate.

a “Nobody is is ; happy about
12 but when you look at
‘that volume J find it, pretty

remarkable,” McGrath said;

-adding the agency strives
for 100 per cent accuracy

by implementing checks and

balances designed to catch

mistakes like this one. __
“A lot of those checks

and balances involve human .

being. and people do make
mistakes.”

_In‘ this case, the people

who’ s ‘information was

‘compromised have had their _

documents returned and

were informed about the

faux- -pas.
McGrath said. both ‘the

“individuals were. grateful’ to.

detachment.
Before being transferred
here with his wife and two

. children,;:Stubbs was sta-

tioned in the Queen Char-

lotte Islands for two years _

‘where he was promoted

RESPs-a great way to save
fora child’ ( education

_ OF: those millions. . of .
documents ‘12° were sent to. |
the wrong people or oth- : |
-erwise . compromised,: says |

NATHAN CULLEN constiituency assistant Francoise Godet holds the Canada Rev-

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, August 17, 2005 - A3 |

News In Brief

sllynch @ deenet. com. °

enue Agency envelope mailed t to a local person. It also contained private informa-
‘tion on two other individuals.

SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO —

get the information safely

in their own hands. That is

* generally the reaction from
“Most citizens who discover

‘from corporal to sergeant
and then staff sergeant...
‘Previously, he spent two
years in Mackenzie in gen-
eral duty, one year in Clinton
and began his career with a
six-year stint in Chase.

their private information: has
‘been sent to the wrong ad-
dress, McGrath said.

» While other people are.

Stubbs primarily handles

_ vhigh.risk files and cases, su- ~

pervises the various patrol
shifts and acts as the second
in command to Inspector
Marlin Degrand.

“T’ve been

impressed

understandably angry when -
. they discover mistakes such

as this, nobody ‘has ‘filed a
: lawsuit against the agency.

here,” he said, adding his
fellow officers work hard
and earn their money.

Stubbs hopes he and his -
family can stay here for the”
‘next five years.

Workshop to key

on chronic health issues"
. THE UNIVERSITY of Victoria’s Centre on Aging is

offering a free workshop to prepare volunteers to lead

a six-session health education program called “Living
a healthy life.with chronic conditions - - chronic disease

self-management program.”

The program helps people with chronic. health con- :
ditions gain the tools and knowledge to help them man-
age the everyday demands of their conditions.

The most common chronic conditions are hyperten-

sion, arthritis, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and lung “|

disease. People aged 60 and above are living with an

‘average of two chronic conditions.

The workshop takes place August 25-28 in the Pub-.
lic Health Auditorium at the Community Health Servic-
es on 3412 Kalum Street. Program director Dr. Patrick .
McGowan, one of the main trainers in Canada, will lead :

_ the program. woe

To register call Sherry Lynch at 1 866- 902- 3767 or.

0

Smoke at Sand Lake

A SMALL smoldering fire on an island on Sand Lake

was reported by a canoeist August 7, :
Forestry firefighters checked the island August 3 and

found nothing but smoke.
But two fire fighters did return to the area. Aug.

campfire « on the same island.

Sand Lake is located between Kitsumkalum Lake 7
and Lava Lake. : ; | ;

- Break-in 2 at t fire hall
THE THORNHILL Fire Department hall was. broken

. into in the early morning of August 7.

: Filing cabinets ‘were. rummaged through as. well a as -

lockers that hold the volunteer firefighters’ personal ef-. _
' fects. Electronic equipment in the department v was’ left. “
_ untouched. - : os
Fire chief. Wes Patierson arrived at the scene > and,
“called ‘the police. The ‘matter ‘is still, under investiga- a0
tion. :

~ Hatchery vandalized |

2 VANDALS BROKE into the Howe Creek Fish: Hatch

ery at the end of Eby St. in the horseshoe’ on Aug: 8:
’. They damaged vinyl siding ¢ on one of the small build-

. ings ; and tipped items into one of the holding: pens. _

Several salmon. fingerlings were killed. os

- Going to get ‘martied -

_SKEENA NDP MP. Nathan Cullen has a different kind

of assignment waiting for him Aug. 20.

He’s. marrying Diana Dahr, also a Bulkley Valley |
resident, in-the recently renovated Old Church build-
ing in Smithers. Dahr had been in Terrace over the last
while, studying to become a teachersage jolla ileasites

A Justice of the Peace will: preside-but’ ‘also taking»
part in the service will be a ‘brother’ of Dahr's who i is
studing to become, a minister. oe .

"10 after another report was received of an abandoned es

‘ Looking for the best way to save for
your child's education? Then a Regis-

tered Education Savings Plan (RESP) |

should be your first consideration.

For many parents, an RESP is the
ideal way to save and invest for post-. .
secondary education. An RESP offers
tax-deferred growth of the money you »
put into the plan, enabling

able from financial institutions such

as banks, brokerage firms and mutual

fund companies. They provide.a selec--

tion of investment choices, ranging
from plans in which contributions are
managed for you to self-directed plans

‘that allow.maximum flexibility through

eligible mutual funds, stocks, bonds
and other securities.

wealth . to — accumulate
much more-quickly than in
fully taxable investments.
Plus, contributions gen-
erate government grants
that help boost education .
savings. .

You're allowed. to con-
tribute a maximum. of
$4,000 per child each year
(to a lifetime. maximum of
$42,000. for each child).
Depending on the type of

’ RESP contributions can be

Kevin Marleau

Investment Representative

There are restrictions
on how the money can be

-Ciary must attend a post-
secondary institution full
time. This includes uni-

leges, vocational colleges,
technical colleges and
some. foreign universities.
If the beneficiary doesn’t
-attend an eligible institu-
tion; a new benefi iciary can
be. named. Oy, if certain cri-

made up to the end of the

21st year.after the plan is opened or -
_ subscriber's (the owner of the plan's)

until the beneficiary turns 21. An RESP

must be closed on or before the last »

day of the 25th year of the plan. -
Although contributions generate no
immediate income. tax deductions,
no taxes are payable until funds are
withdrawn from the RESP So as long

as the money remains in the plan it.

‘compounds free of tax-similar to a

Registered Retirement Savings Plan -
4-(RRSP). And while income. earned by
contributions is taxable in the hands —

of the child when withdrawn, students
- generally pay little or no tax because
of their low annual income.
tn addition, the federal Canada Edu:
cation Savings Grant (CESG) provides
-a contribution of up to $500 a year un-
til the child turns 18. Some families

also:qualify for an initial $500 learning .

bond and $100 annual payments into
-an RESP by the federal government.
And depending where in Canada you
live, an RESP could be eligible for pro-
vincial grant money.

When you set up an RESP you can .

name a related or non-related child as
the beneficiary. This means. an educa-
tion savings plan is a useful tool not

only for parents, but for grandparents:

and others. However, your options de-

pend on the type of plan you open. -

You can have separate RESPs for each
child, or set up a family plan with a
number of beneficiaries.

There are many types of RESPs avail-

teria are met, growth in the
plan can be transferred tax-free to the

RRSP up to the amount of unused con-
tribution room and subject to a lifetime
maximum of $50,000.

It’s essential to set up an RESP

‘for a child as soon as you can. The.

younger a child is when you start con-
tributing, the longer the money has to
grow tax-deferred. The rising costs of
post-secondary education also make

it important to contribute as much as.

you can every year.

Ask your investment representative

for more details on planning an RESP

.. Strategy and choosing suitable invest-
‘ments. MEMBER CIPF

used. Generally, a benefi-

versities, community col.

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