Government email trail
Former Ghiz officials involved in loyalty card program, e-gaming didn’t know how to archive records
Two senior officials who worked in the Robert Ghiz government say they had little, if any, training during their time in government related to archiving their email communication.
But the details about the lack of an electronic trail from these two figures has become a contentious part of the egaming saga, as well as the story related to a subsequent tourism loyalty program.
Chris LeClair, who worked as chief of staff to former premier Robert Ghiz from 2007 to 2011, and Melissa James, who served as deputy minister for innovation and advanced learning from 2011-2013, both told a standing committee in Charlottetown on Friday that they received little if any training in retaining internal government records during their time in government.
The special committee on government records retention, before which both LeClair and James appeared, was struck in June after a report by P.E.I.’s privacy commissioner found the province had violated the Archives and Records Act in relation to a Freedom of Information request. The request sought two years emails of Brad Mix, a civil servant involved in the loyalty card file. The privacy commissioner found the emails were either deleted or lost.
LeClair told the committee he had no involvement in the privacy commissioner’s report.
During his time in government, which ended nine years ago, he told the committee he made few efforts to archive his electronic correspondence.
“In terms of making significant records of emails, I wouldn’t have done that,” LeClair said.
“Did you have any knowledge before you left government that your emails would be deleted after you left?” asked Progressive Conservative MLA Cory Deagle.
“I had really no knowledge of what would happen as a result of leaving government with respect to records management,” LeClair said.
The emails of LeClair and James are mentioned in a statement of claim filed against the provincial government in 2018 by CMT Inc., a financial services company involved in the e-gaming initiative.
The statement of claim alleges former premier Ghiz deleted the emails of LeClair in 2011 illegally and alleges another deputy minister illegally deleted the emails of James in 2013.
The allegations related to the emails were dismissed in a recent ruling by the P.E.I. Court of Appeal. The court ruled that the deletion of both LeClair and James’ email accounts were part of a standard practice for civil servants after they leave government.
But a 2016 report by the auditor general flagged the removal of email accounts of “key participants in the egaming initiative”
On Friday, LeClair told the standing committee he did not ask for any emails to be deleted after he left government.
He also said the Court of Appeal found no evidence that emails of government personnel were deliberately deleted to avoid public scrutiny.
“When people leave government, there is a process. That process defines how email accounts are removed.
It’s tied to the limited availability of email addresses,” LeClair said.
James told committee members that archiving of emails and electronic records was not top of mind during her time in government.
James was asked by Green MLA Trish Altass if there were policies that top civil servants were required to follow related to records retention.
“I can’t recall particular policies. I just can’t. I’m not saying they weren’t there at the time,” James said.
“We’re going back a decade.” James also said she occasionally used a personal Gmail account for government business, due to issues connecting remotely to the government GroupWise system.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Deagle referred to the practices described by James and LeClair as a “very flimsy approach to government records”.
“We’re talking personal email accounts being used to conduct business on a major government file, the chief of staff to the then-premier not having any idea about how to archive records,” Deagle said.
Deagle expressed doubt any of the emails would ever be recovered. Deagle’s government colleague, Sidney MacEwen, has suggested a forensic audit be employed to determine what happened to the records.
The special committee on records retention will be providing recommendations to the legislature related to improving electronic records security.