This memo is intended to clarify the RCMP’s use of body-worn cameras within Southern Health-Santé Sud facilities and address any concerns regarding their impact on staff and client privacy.
Key Considerations:

• Not for Surveillance Use: Cameras will not be used for continuous surveillance, 24-hour recording, or in areas with high expectations of privacy (e.g., washrooms, hospitals, or treatment centres).
• Permitted Use Cases: in certain circumstances, RCMP officers may activate their cameras including but not limited to:
  • reasonable grounds to suspect that there is an imminent threat of bodily harm or death to a person;
  • reasonable grounds to believe that evidence relating to the commission of an offence is present in a private place, and that the entry into the private place is necessary to prevent the imminent loss or imminent destruction of evidence; or
  • conditions relating to a fresh pursuit.
• Authority Limitations: Southern Health-Santé Sud staff do no have the legal authority to direct RCMP officers to start or stop recording.
• Staff Use is Prohibited: The use of body-worn cameras by staff or third parties is strictly prohibited under regional policies governing the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information.

If you have questions about an officer’s use of a body-worn camera please ask them directly.

You can find more information about the deployment and use of body worn cameras below:
Body Worn Camera (BWC) and Digital Evidence Management Service (DEMS) | Royal Canadian Mounted Police
RCMP begins national deployment of body-worn cameras | Royal Canadian Mounted Police

If you have questions or require further clarification, please contact your site’s Privacy Officer or Lee Bassett, Privacy and Access Officer

Submitted by: Privacy & Access