On March 25, 2014, Federal Labour Arbitrator Christine Schmidt determined that the Canadian National Railway Company (“CN”) was in breach of section 5(3) of the   Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) after it installed a video camera to monitor a bulletin board following the posting of offensive material.

In Canadian National Railway Company v Teamsters Canadian Rail Conference, 2014 CanLII 15954 (CA LA) Arbitrator Schmidt found that, in the circumstances, it was not appropriate for CN to collect personal information using video surveillance.

Arbitrator Schmidt also found that CN was not investigating either a breach of an agreement or a contravention of a law and, as such, could not rely on the exception to obtaining consent for collection, use, and disclosure found in section 7 of PIPEDA. Section 5(3) of PIPEDA states that an organization “may collect, use or disclose personal information only for purposes that a reasonable person would consider are appropriate in the circumstances.

” Section 7(1)(b) of PIPEDA states that: (1) – For the purpose of clause 4.3 of Schedule 1, and despite the note that accompanies that clause, an organization may collect personal information without the knowledge or consent of the individual only if […] (b) it is reasonable to expect that the collection with the knowledge or consent of the individual would compromise the availability or the accuracy of the information and the collection is reasonable for purposes related to investigating a breach of an agreement or a contravention of the laws of Canada or a province.