Issue 9/03 – 24 September 2003
Take Control!
Recent changes to the Personal
Emergency Notification (PEN) Form allow CF members more control
over their personal information, and all CF members
are encouraged to fill in a new form before December 31, 2003.
Currently, the Privacy Act
prohibits the release of your personal information to anyone—including
your next of kin (NOK)—without written authorization for a
period of 20 years after your death. A new section of the PEN Form
provides you the opportunity to designate to whom DND may immediately
release your personal information in the event of injury or death.
As well, the PEN Form now accommodates member authorization
for DND and Veterans' Affairs Canada (VAC) to exchange CF
members' personal information in the event of injury or death.
This will enable injured members or NOK to obtain all their rightful
benefits from both departments with a minimum of paperwork and elapsed
time.
At The Centre, a bilingual referral service and resource
centre for CF Regular and Reserve Force serving and former members
and their families, Casualty Administration Officer Louise Rochette
sees these changes in the PEN form as “what we're here
for. We're here to help CF members. With these changes allowing
the member to decide who should be contacted in the event of something
happening, we're being proactive. And the same is true for
the exchange of information between DND and VAC.”
Updated instructions on the back of the form include
a clarification of why you are asked to provide the information,
and who is authorized to access that information. Further explanations
of the new sections on disclosure of personal information are also
provided.
Once it's filled in, the PEN Form becomes a
“Protected A” document, and must always be handled as
such. Units are responsible for the secure handling of PEN Forms,
and for ensuring that CF members' personal information on
PEN Forms is always accurate and current. This is particularly important
prior to deployments.
You are asked to fill in an updated
PEN Form before December 31 to ensure your protection under
the provisions of the new form.
For more information about the PEN Form, please call
The Centre at 1-800-883-6094. Visit http://diso-s041.ottawa-hull.mil.ca/DFC2/
(Intranet users only) to download and print the PEN Form (CF 742;
current NSN 7530-21-900-0451).
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