Complaint Review: Columbia International College

CIC is involved with various issues, such as false advertising, endangering the lives of schoolchildren, and violating HIPAA.

To start with, Columbia International College emailed copies of my personal health information to an unauthorized third party. They did not inform me of such a disclosure, and they did not follow the right procedures for storage of electronic health care information outlined in the HIPAA rule of Ontario, Canada. The principal at the time, Ron Rambarran, routinely discussed my personal health information through email with my parents and other staff. The current principal, Bill Ironside, has been contacted regarding the issues as well, however, he refused to investigate.

In addition, CIC routinely discriminates against students with disabilities. My guidance counselor informed me that I should go home for summer break to be with family. However, I later found out that the principal had in fact asked the counselor to drop my classes for the summer, to have me sent home for the summer. When I got home, I was informed that I would need medical clearance to return to school. An independent psychiatrist's report stated that I was stable to return to school. However, based on the principal's unprofessional, non-medical, opinion, I was told to "go back home, or find another school", upon returning to CIC. This is clearly discriminatory towards students with disabilities. My counselor also informed me that several students were sent back home when their health insurance ran out.

CIC also advertises itself as "the most caring school in Canada". However, they show a lack of concern for student safety, often cramming four students in an area designed to accomodate two passengers on the bus. The staff responsible for overseeing the buses would cite the following reason for excluding certain students from boarding the bus: "It's Friday, I'm bored". From this, it is clear that CIC is not the most caring school in Canada.

To conclude, CIC violates HIPAA by emailing personal health information to various unauthorized third parties, endangers the lives of schoolchildren by putting more passengers on buses than is necessary, and falsely advertises itself as "the most caring school in Canada".