Retired Mountie says Sask. veterans' plate program poses privacy risks

Steve Gloade spent 27 years in the RCMP and retired in 2019. (Courtesy: Steve Gloade)

A Saskatchewan man says he’s eligible for a veteran’s licence plate, but he’s reluctant to get one because he doesn’t want to give his personal information to the Royal Canadian Legion.

Steve Gloade spent 27 years in the RCMP and retired in 2019. Retired RCMP officers have administered benefits through Veterans Affairs Canada and, as of 2022, have been eligible for the veterans' licence plates through SGI.

Gloade told CTV News he’s proud of his public service and he wants the opportunity to put it on display on his vehicle, but he doesn’t trust the Legion as a steward of veterans’ personal information.

“It kills me every time I see a veteran’s plate because I’m a proud veteran,” he said. “I've served my country for 27 goddamn years. I've paid the price, believe me. Multiple times over.”

Gloade feels the Royal Canadian Legion has a poor track record when it comes to managing personal information.

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He says he would feel more comfortable giving his information to a clerk at SGI because, as a government agency, it’s subject to the oversight of the privacy commissioner.

“There’s no safeguards built in place that I can see that protects my information,” he said.

Chad Wagner, executive director of the Royal Canadian Legion – Saskatchewan Command, told CTV News all they require to submit the application is to see a veteran’s proof of service.

They may keep a copy temporarily, but he says those are shredded after a short time.

Wagner says the two Legion service officers who process the applications for SGI are veterans themselves, and they’re the best-qualified people to determine who’s eligible.

Without the Legion providing this service, “the risk of people getting these plates who aren’t veterans skyrockets,” he said.

SGI spokesperson Tyler McMurchy told CTV News that the Legion administers the veterans' licence plate programs for provinces across the country and that SGI has a long history of working successfully with the organization.

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“Our position is that an organization that is devoted to and fully focused on providing service to veterans has more expertise in evaluating whether someone meets the criteria to be considered a veteran,” McMurchy said in an emailed statement.

SGI does not currently have a process to determine whether someone is a veteran or not, and they are not aware of any privacy breaches resulting from the veterans' plates application process, he said.

McMurchy told CTV News if anyone had reason to believe their information was used inappropriately, SGI “would follow up thoroughly.”

For Gloade, the issue is more about the lack of public oversight of a private non-profit organization.

“With a government agency … if I want to know what’s happening with my personal information, I can ATIP [file an access to information request]. But I can't ATIP a private organization; a nonprofit organization. You can't do that.”

Wagner says Gloade may be overlooking the fact that private brokers do most of SGI’s work.

“SGI has third parties doing 95 per cent of their work,” he said.

“Imagine you’re in La Ronge and you walk into a broker, not even SGI, a broker — you’re going to have to go in there and show them proof of service,” said Wagner.

“They’re not going to have the ability to recognize what proof of service looks like.”