Class actions continue to be at the forefront of the development
of privacy rights. Recently, the novel tort of "publicity
given to private life" was permitted to proceed as a cause of
action in the class proceeding John Doe and Suzie Jones v. Her
Majesty the Queen.1 This latest privacy class
action certification decision not only recognizes a novel form of
privacy tort but also demonstrates how the courts find class
actions a good vehicle for the prosecution of privacy breaches.
John Doe and Suzie Jones is based on the alleged
privacy breaches that occurred when, in November 2013, Health
Canada mailed oversized letters to 40,000 individuals with the
return address listed as the Marihuana Medical Access Program
("MMAP"). The name of each individual and the name of the
program were visible on the outside of the envelope. The plaintiffs
allege that this breached their privacy rights by publicly
identifying them as participants in the MMAP. On March 3, 2015, the
Privacy
