Privacy violations are now at record levels in Canada, the country's privacy watchdog said Tuesday, calling for greater attention in the government's handling of Canadians' personal information.

Both reports of privacy complaints filed by Canadians and data breaches by federal organizations had set new highs for the second consecutive year, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said in its annual report released Tuesday.

Between April 2012 and March 2013, the number of complaints rose from 986 to 2,273, marking an unprecedented increase. Much of the upsurge was driven by the 1,159 total complaints generated by two massive data breaches involving Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, now known as Employment and Social Development Canada, and Justice Canada.

Late last year, a portable hard drive containing personal information about some 583,000 student-loan borrowers went missing and became the largest privacy breach involving the federal government over the past decade.

Meanwhile, the number of data breaches reported by federal institutions also increased from 80 to 109, up 36 percent year on year.

Since data breaches reporting within the federal government is not mandatory, "it is impossible to discern whether the rise was attributable to more actual breaches or increased diligence in reporting," said Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart, whose term expires in December.

Even if federal departments and agencies were more diligent in notifying the office of breaches, "Canadians would be justified in demanding that institutions focus greater efforts on taking greater precautions up front and avoiding breaches in the first place," the commissioner said in a news release.

A telephone survey of 1,513 Canadian residents conducted by the office last year found that only 21 percent of respondents felt that the government carried out its responsibility to protect personal information seriously.

This lack of confidence was borne out in examples of privacy breaches highlighted in Stoddart's report.

The Privacy Commissioner's office found that employees of the Canada Revenue Agency, which routinely handles Canadians' sensitive financial data, had inappropriately accessed thousands of taxpayer files for years without being detected.

"Canadians deserve to have their personal information protected, particularly when they provide it to the government under legal compulsion," Stoddart said.