The province's aging privacy laws need updating to protect its citizens, says Saskatchewan's privacy commissioner.

Privacy commissioner Gary Dickson said in an annual report released Wednesday that the Saskatchewan government isn't doing anything to bring its laws into the 21st century.

Dickson said the province's 18-year-old privacy law was written before electronic health records became as accessible as they are now.

"Our act was written at a time when privacy involved private investigators peeking in bedroom windows," he said. "That was the thing people thought of when they talked about privacy – nothing like the world that we take for granted that we live in now."

Dickson referred to the handling of privacy breaches at two different health regions as evidence the province does not take its privacy laws seriously.

In both instances, employees looked up the health information of others without their permission, said Dickson.

The workers were fired, but Dickson said those rulings were overturned and their jobs were restored.

"We have seen arbitration decisions that are overturning dismissal for cause and substituting minor penalties even when there have been serious, egregious privacy breaches," said Dickson. "Those arbitration decisions signal that if you breach the privacy of a patient in Saskatchewan it's just no big deal."

The province said it can't fire people the first time they breach someone's privacy.

Don Morgan, justice minister, said government lawyers told him firing an employee for breaching someone's privacy is not easilly done.

"You need to develop an understanding and develop a culture of respect for privacy before you can successfully terminate somebody," said Morgan. "You can't just say 'now privacy is important and we're going to fire people for this.' You need to have a policy and an understanding that goes right through government."

Dickson said if the government really wants to create a culture of respect for privacy it would fire those who breach it.

The government said before it considers reviewing the legislation it will provide more training to employees on privacy rules this fall.