Accountability is still elusive

Accountability for the wrongful firings of seven Ministry of Health researchers is long overdue, but bit by painful bit, the B.C. government is trying to undo some of the damage.

Researchers who were fired in 2012 recently received cheques and apologies from Kim Henderson, deputy minister to the premier and head of the B.C. Public Service.

And some of the managers whose staff were caught up in the witch hunt have left the government, although we don’t know under what circumstances.

In April, B.C. Ombudsperson Jay Chalke released his report into the firings and the devastation caused to employees, contractors, university research departments and private companies. Roderick MacIsaac, a 46-year-old University of Victoria co-op student, killed himself in December 2012, about four months after he was dismissed.

Chalke recommended apologies and financial compensation for those whose lives were up-ended by a whistleblower’s largely unfounded allegations of misuse of health data.

The cheques, ranging from $15,000 to $125,000, and Henderson’s letters were the result of Chalke’s recommendations.

The ombudsperson had recommended paying compensation by June 30, and the cheques went out in the last week of June. The government had the money, but waited until the last minute to hand it over to the wronged workers. A small point, perhaps, but one more example of the way justice has had to be wrung from a government that tried for years to avoid responsibility.

However, the fired employees might find a degree of solace in knowing that some of the people responsible for this gross miscarriage of justice are no longer in a position to do it again.

At least five of the managers who were involved have left the government, although it is not clear whether they were fired or went of their own accord. Wendy Taylor, who led the inquisition, is gone. So are Barb Walman and Lindsey Kislock, who occupied assistant deputy minister positions. The deputy minister at the time, Graham Whitmarsh, has also left, and Alana James who, according to Chalke, made the unsubstantiated allegations that began the investigation, subsequently departed for Australia.

In addition, the comptroller general’s office in the Finance Ministry, which conducted its own botched investigation of the firings, has retracted its “findings” and retreated behind a privacy firewall.

It is well to recall what Chalke said about the probe that led to the firings: “This breakdown happened in part because a number of government controls and practices were not followed. Investigators did not bring an open mind, and the investigative process was unfair. The dismissals were rushed, the human-resources process effectively collapsed and there was confusion about the scope of the legal advice provided, all of which resulted in terminations that were unjustified.”

Managers chased down people who had done nothing wrong. They subjected innocent employees to investigations and Kafkaesque interrogations where honest denials were taken as proof of guilt. Staff who protested came under suspicion themselves. The fact that some of the managers responsible are gone must give rank-and-file employees throughout the public service hope that such a travesty won’t happen again.

Some of the researchers believe that behind the investigation was political direction or a desire to shut down studies that drug companies did not like. Chalke found nothing to substantiate those allegations.

Instead, it seems that incompetence and a rush to judgment drove the tragedy. Chalke recommended healing and reconciliation rather than punishment for the inquisitors.

The outgoing government appears to want to leave it at that, to draw a line under the whole sad episode.

But for the researchers, and the citizens of B.C., true accountability remains elusive.

— Victoria Times Colonist