Saskatchewan's health minister is willing to consider changes to privacy laws following the discovery of thousands of patient files left intact in a Regina recycling bin.

"We're going to look at how we can strengthen the legislation or other policies so that this does not happen again," Don McMorris told reporters Thursday.

McMorris also said the province's privacy watchdog will have the full cooperation of the government as Gary Dickson investigates.

Boxes of old medical files are now being held in the offices of Saskatchewan's privacy watchdog. CBCOn Wednesday Dickson was knee-deep in boxes inside a blue recycling bin where medical records had been tossed. A day later the files were piled inside his downtown Regina office.

Under current legislation, an individual violating the privacy of health information faces a fine of up to $50,000 and a corporation could be fined up to $500,000.

While Dickson has come across abandoned medical files in the past, no case has ever been prosecuted in Saskatchewan.

Don Morgan, Saskatchewan's minister of justice, said Thursday that the matter is taken seriously.

"The message that we want to send to everybody [who] handles confidential information is that they are at risk of being prosecuted," Morgan said.

"It's not acceptable for me, nor should it be for the public, that there's a sense that people are getting away with something either through negligence or deliberate action," Morgan said. "Either way is unacceptable."

During debate in the legislature, opposition NDP MLAs said the government should play a role in storing medical records.

"It's a public health system, we pay for it, and therefore we want to make sure that the government, because we have a public health care system, are responsible for our records," Dwain Lingenfelter, the leader of the NDP said Thursday.

McMorris, however, was not keen on that approach.

"We as the ministry of health really are not the ones that should be storing medical records," McMorris said. "We have no medical background per se. It really should be the trustee, the medical doctor."

Issue flagged in 2006

Dickson said Thursday he has raised concerns about medical files since 2006.

"In Saskatchewan we just haven't done a good enough job impressing on trustees that this is a serious responsibility," Dickson said. "Records should be treated like hundred dollar bills. They need to be protected."

Dickson said it may be the case that some health record trustees do not believe there are serious consequences for any violations.

"I hope that's not a widely held view," he said.

Gary Dickson, Saskatchewan's privacy commissioner, said health record trustees need to take the role seriously. CBCDickson said he suggested in 2007 that some system be put into place to collect the records of doctors, and others, who no longer need their files.

But, he noted, for whatever reason that was not pursued. "And so we're having them end up in dumpsters and recycling bins and abandoned in the corners of empty office buildings," Dickson said.

He also said his investigation into the abandoned files could take several months to complete.

His preliminary examination of the records suggests they may have originated with several doctor offices as well as a diagnostic clinic and possibly a pharmacy.

At least some of the files were from 2005.