Ex-adviser calls for inquiry into firings
Whistleblower says government went after ‘low level people’ in health ministry
VICTORIA — The whistleblower whose concerns led to the investigation and firings of government health researchers is speaking publicly for the first time, and says B.C. should hold a full public inquiry into alleged corruption.
Alana James, who worked as a senior health information adviser in the Ministry of Health during the 2012 firings, said she wants a deeper probe into allegations she first raised about conflicts of interest, contracting, privacy breaches, data handling and financial matters involving ministry health research and contracting.
“I would support a corruption inquiry,” James told The Sun in an email exchange from Australia, where she now works as a lawyer. “I would not support a review by the Ombudsperson.”
James would be a key witness in any review. Not only was it her concerns that first prompted the ministry investigation, but she has also kept key emails and documents about the initial stages of the government’s actions.
The ministry ultimately fired eight researchers in a botched probe it admitted two years later was heavy-handed, unfair and full of mistakes. Many were later rehired, but two have active court cases against the government. One researcher, Roderick MacIsaac, killed himself. James said she never accused MacIsaac of wrongdoing, and she’s sorry the government fired him.
“I think it is absolutely tragic about Roderick and I am beyond sorry about that,” said James.
“I think about him a lot and wonder if I could have done things differently, that if I would have done more to get the story out that this is about far more than the named fired people and the minor privacy breaches they admit to, that it would have been different for him. I didn’t even know him. I had never raised concerns about him, only people above him and far more involved.
“I thought the government dragged him into it to make it seem like they were doing something to address the issues, when really they were just going after low level people who weren’t protected by their positions.”
James also rejected speculation that the firings were related to research about specific drugs, funding for the Therapeutics Initiatives drug evaluation group or the influence of big pharmaceutical companies on the B.C. Liberal party.
James said her concerns stretched far beyond the eight researchers, and involved how current and former government employees worked as contractors while also helping to draft contracts that gave their colleagues or family special treatment in terms of funding, access to data research and intellectual property rights. She suggested some of the contracts potentially broke the law, and that some health research was used for reasons other than what was allowed.
The government’s comptroller general’s office conducted a review into similar issues, and its report is expected to be released publicly in coming weeks. The RCMP has already said the report contains no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
The RCMP has also said it never conducted a criminal investigation into allegations involving the fired researchers, because government failed to provide any evidence of a crime.
“This was not about one ministry and less than a dozen individuals,” said James. “This was systemic throughout government and public agencies and involved many people, some of them high up and in charge of making the decisions.”
Health Minister Terry Lake has said his government is researching whether B.C.’s independent Office of the Ombudsperson could probe the botched firings.
But James echoed concerns that incoming ombudsperson Jay Chalke, who starts today, is in a conflict because he’s worked for the past four years in the Ministry of Justice.