Michael Harvey

Headshot

Information and Privacy Commissioner for Newfoundland and Labrador

The Commissioner's role is to oversee both the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 (ATIPPA, 2015), and the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA). The Commissioner investigates complaints from citizens who believe these laws are not being followed.

Michael Harvey was appointed as the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Newfoundland and Labrador effective August 5, 2019. Michael joined the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in January 2006 and his time had been divided between Executive Council (Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat and Cabinet Secretariat) and line departments (Departments of Children, Youth and Family Services, and Health and Community Services).

His first executive appointment was in 2012 as Executive Director of Planning and Coordination in Cabinet Secretariat. In early 2015, he was seconded from that role to another within Cabinet Secretariat to lead a transition team drawn together to spearhead Government’s acceptance of the recommendations of the 2014 Statutory Review of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act. These recommendations involved the passage of an entirely new Act, the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 (ATIPPA, 2015) through the House of Assembly and an associated, public-sector wide, change management exercise.

Michael was appointed as Assistant Deputy Minister of Policy, Planning and Performance Management in the Department of Health and Community Services in August 2015, in which role his interest in access to information and privacy continued to grow. In this capacity, among other things, he was responsible for the ongoing statutory review of the Personal Health Information Act. He also worked extensively on Government’s eHealth agenda, including promoting and facilitating the development of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health Information (NLCHI) Data Warehouse and Data Lab, increasing data analytics capacity for clinical decision-making and decision support, and advancing virtual care. He was also responsible for the Department’s mandate to promote health research in the province. To advance these objectives he served on the Boards of Directors of NLCHI and the Health Research Ethics Authority.

Michael has lectured in political science and public administration at Memorial University, the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto. He is a graduate of Memorial University, with a BA (Hons) in Political Science; has a MA in Political Studies from Queen’s University; and holds an Executive Certificate in Conflict Management from the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law/Stitt Feld Handy Group. He is a father of two, an avid cyclist and skier when conditions allow and an avid swimmer even when they don’t.

 

Contributions by Michael Harvey

  • Privacy and Access at a Turning Point: Looking forward to 2026
    Speaker at Virtual St. John's KnowledgeNet: 30 Nov. 2023
  • Ensuring Privacy of Electronic Medical Records To Enable Healthcare Delivery
    Speaker at IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium 2023
  • Ensuring Privacy of Electronic Medical Records To Enable Healthcare Delivery
    Speaker at IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium 2023
  • Commissioners' Game Show
    Speaker at IAPP Canada Privacy Symposium 2023