The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has confirmed that it terminated some employees for sharing private taxpayer information through an unauthorized Facebook Messenger group chat. This information was revealed in federal records that were recently released. The CRA stated in an Inquiry of Ministry, which was tabled in the Commons on June 9, that an undisclosed number of employees faced disciplinary action, including termination, for sharing taxpayer information outside of a secure portal. The agency provided this information in response to a question filed by Conservative MP Rachel Thomas on April 24, which asked about the government’s requests to remove or alter information in the media since January 2016.
According to the Inquiry, the CRA’s manager of public affairs requested Facebook to remove the chat containing sensitive taxpayer information from its servers in June 2022. However, it was uncertain if Facebook complied with this request. The CRA also mentioned in a separate Inquiry, in response to a question from Conservative MP Dean Allison, that some employees used the Facebook chat group to discuss taxpayer information privately between May and June 2022. The chat was deleted by one of the group’s administrators on June 7.
As a result of this incident, the CRA took disciplinary measures. It notified all affected taxpayers and offered them credit protection services and guidance on preventing fraud. The agency informed The Epoch Times that three taxpayers were affected by the Facebook chat. Additionally, the employees involved in the chat were retrained on unauthorized access and the use of social media. The CRA emphasized that severe disciplinary measures, including termination of employment, are applied to cases of extreme misconduct. However, the agency did not disclose the exact number of disciplined or terminated employees, citing privacy concerns and the risk of identifying individuals involved.
Overall, the CRA has taken action against employees who shared private taxpayer information through an unauthorized Facebook Messenger group chat. They have notified affected taxpayers, provided credit protection services, and retrained the involved employees. The agency has emphasized the severity of discipline for such misconduct but has not disclosed the exact number of disciplined employees for privacy reasons.