Drop All Charges Against Kelley Denham

This petition will be delivered to:

• Crown Prosecutor Julie Scott
•  

Kelley Denham, mother of four has been charged with theft under $5,000, mischief over $5,000, mischief to data, unauthorized use of a computer, traffick in identity information, and publication of identifying information all because she posted a picture of a hyper-link to Facebook.

Ms. Denham lodged complaints with both the Ministry and even Premier Kathleen Wynne's office, that personal information about the clients of Family and Children's Services of Lanark Leeds and Grenville, (FCSLLG) was accessible without password protection and that FCSLLG were fully aware that the information was readily accessible and unsecured. They were advised of the situation months prior and refused to protect the information on their website and they knowingly left the private information of their clients unprotected and only acted to shut down their website when Ms. Denham went public. Ms. Denham is a whistle-blower, not a criminal and all criminal charges against should be immediately dropped.

See article below for more, http://www.recorder.ca/2017/12/15/fcs-faces-negligence-suit

An alleged privacy breach at Family and Children’s Services of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville (FCS) last year has led to the agency being sued for negligence, invasion of privacy and a breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

A multi-million-dollar class action lawsuit was filed in April 2016 against the agency as a result of a security breach that allegedly allowed for the names of 285 local children’s aid clients being published on Facebook, an offense made illegal under the Child and Family Services Act. 

This week, lawyers for the plaintiff, named only as M.M., confirmed they filed a notice of motion in a Toronto courtroom to pursue claims of negligence, intrusion upon seclusion (invasion of personal privacy) and a breach of section 7 of the Charter (life, liberty and security of person) against FCS.  

The suit initially alleged last year that someone hacked into the website to find the list, but lawyers for the plaintiff say an affidavit from Kelley Denham, the person who allegedly posted the location of the client list to Facebook and one of the defendants in the case, changed their course of action.  

“We initially believed, based on quotes from (FCS executive director) Raymond Lemay and news reports, that this was a case of hacking of the secured FCSLLG website intended only for members of its board of directors,” Sean Brown, a lawyer with Flaherty McCarthy LLP who represents the plaintiff, told The Recorder and Times in an email. 

“It now appears that this is not the case. Rather, it appears that the FCSLLG website was completely unsecured between February and April 2016, with the full knowledge of FCSLLG.” 

The suit seeks $25 million in general damages, $25 million in special damages and $25 million in punitive, aggravated and exemplary damages.

According to the suit, the personal information of the 285 clients was compiled into an electronic file, prepared for the service’s board of directors on new cases arising between April and November of 2015, but was not properly secured on the agency’s network. 

This made the list publicly available to anyone, they said, and in her affidavit Denham explained how she came into possession of the sensitive and confidential documents.

She said she found and clicked on an unrelated document on the website intended for the public. She deleted a portion of the URL, and she was taken to a directory of folders with documents, within which she found the document with the names of local families. 

She said she was never asked a user name or password and was never faced with any security measures that impeded her ability to access the documents. 

She said she attempted multiple times to advise the agency the confidential documents were available on the public website, beginning in February 2016, but the documents were still publicly available by late April 2016. This is when she decided to post the location of the report on the Facebook group where she claims she posted an image of a hyperlink, which was deleted by the group’s administrator within hours. 

She said she did not hack any secure portals, rather the site was completely unsecured and she was able to access the files unimpeded.  

She is listed in the lawsuit as a defendant and is being charged with intrusion upon seclusion.  

According to her own website kelleyandderek.com, she is also being charged criminally for matters in relation to this case that are still before the court, including: Theft under $5,000, mischief over $5,000, mischief to data, unauthorized use of a computer, traffick in identity information, and publication of identifying information.

Brown said the evidence offered by Denham voluntarily in support of their notice of motion “directly contradicts the narrative pushed by FCSLLG at the time of this alleged breach.”

“Our own client, M.M., was not previously aware of the facts as alleged by Ms. Denham,” he said.  

“She believed and accepted the version of events offered by FCSLLG. She was both surprised and upset to read Ms. Denham’s Affidavit and learn that the version of events offered by FCSLLG at the time may not be true.” 

M.M., the plaintiff in the case representing the class action, wrote in an affidavit her family was the subject of a FCSLLG investigation for a brief period in April 2015. She said her file was soon closed and no action was taken against her family, and that the investigation was short-lived and found no wrongdoing on the part of her or her partner. 

“I did not expect to hear from FCSLLG again,” she wrote in the affidavit. 

But her name was included as one of the 285 made publicly available during the security breach, according to the suit.   

“The knowledge that my name was disclosed in the breached report has caused me distress, anxiety and humiliation. I fear that the fact my family was the subject of an FCSLLG investigation will brand both myself and my partner as child abusers, when this is categorically and unequivocally not true.” 

None of the allegations have been proven in court. 

The plaintiff will be in court Dec. 21 seeking an order to move forward with the class action suit in a Toronto courtroom.

Multiple requests for comment to the executive director of FCSLLG were not returned before deadline.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE