A Vancouver man has a bone to pick with the Toronto Star for publishing a list of Canadians missing overseas in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 tsunami.

Charlie Millar is upset because the paper published the names of his parents and brother on Wednesday -- and they aren't missing.

"I'd been in contact with my family on the day of the tsunamis, so I knew exactly about their whereabouts and safety during that time and now," he told CTV.ca.

"So it was really disheartening to see the article online and see the names of my family on there. It was wrong."

Friends who had seen the article brought it to his attention by "and were obviously very concerned," he said.

The online version of the article has been updated. There is an asterisk beside the names of Sandra, Blake and Mathew Millar; in the newspaper version, there isn't. The asterisk means they are "Canadians found to be alive by the Star," the paper's website said.

"I was never contacted by the Toronto Star in preparation for release of this list," Millar said. "It strikes me as very much of a readership grab, and that's the only reason why it was done, and not to inform the public."

Toronto Star editor-in-chief Giles Gherson told CTV.ca his paper published the list because they thought it was in the public interest to do so.

"We didn't do this to win a popularity contest," he said.

To Millar, Gherson told CFTO News: "We're sorry. But this is never an easy process."

The Star said this of the 150-name list: "It is by no means complete and has been compiled by the Star through a variety of sources, including Foreign Affairs, the Thai consul, wire stories, emails and phone interviews. It is current as of Jan. 5."

But Millar said his family had contacted the Canadian embassy in Thailand and told them they were okay, so he's not sure where the Star got his family's name.

While he wouldn't say how the Star got it, Gherson said on Tuesday, they obtained the same list the government had.

PM says list to remain secret

Millar approved of Prime Minister Paul Martin's stance.

Martin told reporters Wednesday: "We've already seen incidents where names have been on those lists and the people have turned up. I don't think anybody wants to put families through the terrible trauma of suddenly seeing a loved one's name appear on a list and then finding out that list was incorrect, that they went through that trauma for nothing."

Kimberly Phillips, a spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Canada, told CTV.ca that "privacy considerations and internal departmental guidelines prevent us from publishing the names of those who are missing or who have persished.

"We have to respect the family's decision about whether or not to release information publicly," she said.

The federal Privacy Act is designed to "protect the interests of individuals and families under circumstances like this. And the general principle is that personal information should be protected unless there are compelling reasons to do otherwise," she said.

The list changes constantly, so "we don't want to put friends and family though the terrible trauma of seeing a loved one's name on a list, and then for them to subsequently find out the list is incorrect," Phillips said.

The department says five are confirmed dead. There are 146 missing and eight in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. There are also unconfirmed reports of another 376 Canadians who may have been in the tsunami area.

Gherson said they have managed to cross 20 names off the list so far Wednesday and have Canadians contact them to add names that weren't on the original list.

Phillips said it' possible more names could be added to the government's list.

While government staff have handled 45,000 calls to date, "very few are pertaining to new cases," she said.

Suanne Kelman, interim chair of the Ryerson School of Journalism, told CTV.ca the only reason to publish such a list is to help find people.

"If they weren't sure that the list was accurate to begin with ... it doesn't seem to be a particularly good idea, and you don't have to be a professor of journalism to see that. I think that would just be common sense."

But Gherson said they wanted to get the public involved to help sort out who was really missing -- although he conceded it "was a concern" if some people were caused some trauma in the process.

CTV.ca asked the following question Wednesday on its website: "If you had a relative unaccounted for in the tsunami disaster, would you object to their name being published in a list of missing?" In the unscientific survey in which people must choose to answer, 77 per cent said they wouldn't have a problem with it.

CFTO's Tom Hayes reported that in Europe, some countries have decided against publishing a "missing" list after thieves in Germany used the information to target homes for break-ins.

With a report from CFTO's Tom Hayes