Information about Canadians who attempt or even just threaten suicide is filed by various police services into a national database that is maintained by the RCMP and shared with U.S. law enforcement authorities.

The RCMP shares the information in the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) database with the FBI and other U.S. agencies, media relations RCMP Corporal Laurence Trottier told the Star in an email.

This may explain how a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer was recently able to access a Toronto woman’s mental health information on his computer screen at Pearson airport and deny her entry to the U.S.

“Information related to individuals that are known to have attempted or threatened to commit suicide is collected and placed on CPIC to protect the individuals themselves, the general public and/or police officers who may come in contact with them, from possible harm,” Trottier said.

“The information allows police services to be aware of individuals that may be a danger to themselves or others.”

Further, he said, “Leading mental health organizations support the placement of attempted suicide information on CPIC.”

It’s one of the avenues that Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian says she is exploring, after opening an investigation last week into how a U.S. border agent became privy to private health information about Ellen Richardson, who had gone to the airport to start a vacation.

Police reports about people who attempt suicide should not be automatically put into a national database system shared with U.S. authorities, says Cavoukian.

“My concern is this — it appears that this is done in every case, automatically. Any information to do with attempted suicide, off it goes. That’s not acceptable to me,” said Cavoukian, who has a PhD in psychology, specializing in criminology and the law.

Richardson, a paraplegic, was told by the border agent that she would need “medical clearance” by a doctor approved by the U.S. agency because of a “mental illness episode” she had in June of 2012.

She had been treated in 2012 for what she characterized as a “half-hearted” attempt at suicide and had previously attempted suicide in 2001 as a result of delusions. In the years between the incidents, however, she had been on medications that kept her feeling stable. And since being treated for clinical depression following the 2012 incident, she says her condition has again stabilized.

Cavoukian said it’s “not OK” for Ontario police to file reports about all attempted suicides they come into contact with into the CPIC database. “That’s one of the reasons we have launched an investigation” into Richardson’s case, she said.

She told the Star that Health Minister Deb Matthews’ office staff are in the process of sending her a sworn affidavit assuring her they do not share any information with U.S. authorities. “We will review the affidavit and make any decisions about next steps once we receive it. However, our expectation is that the affidavit will resolve any issues relating to the involvement of the Ministry of Health.”

Cavoukian said her office is “proposing that we form a working group with police and with mental health associations and develop criteria as to when it’s acceptable to share personal information associated with attempted suicide with CPIC. Because we know that what goes into CPIC is going to be shared with the U.S. customs authority.”

There needs to be “criteria for when it is appropriate,” she added.

At least one representative of a leading mental health organization is questioning the RCMP assertion that “leading mental health organizations’’ support adding information about potential suicides to CPIC.

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“I would question that — I would like to know who those leading mental health authorities are,” said Uppala Chandrasekera, policy director with the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Mental Health Association.

“Mental health information is not criminal — it should not be released,” she said. “Maybe there needs to be laws or regulations to say you can’t forward that information on,” she said.

It’s a different matter if police are working collaboratively to respond to people in trouble — that could be a case for sharing mental health information, when it’s “to help or assist in a crisis,” she said.

But in the case of Ellen Richardson, Chandrasekra questions how the disclosure of her mental health information to U.S. border agents was helpful. It’s this sort of disclosure which is “discriminatory,” she says.