A battle has been brewing between Canadian Forces Ombudsman Pierre Daigle and the senior military leadership, who now say they don’t recognize the military watchdog’s authority over some of the complaints soldiers bring to the ombudsman’s office.
On Monday, MacKay also warned Daigle not to advocate on behalf of the soldiers.
But that sparked a heated debate in the Commons on Tuesday with opposition members accusing the Conservative government of trying to undercut the ombudsman’s role.
“It is clear that any officer of Parliament, be it the PBO or the auditor general, and now the military ombudsman, who crosses the Conservative propaganda machine will be destroyed,” Liberal defence critic John McKay said. “If the ombudsman cannot, and if the minister will not, who will stand up for our troops?”
“Mr. Speaker, you are looking at him,” Peter MacKay said in response.
He then went on to praise his government’s track record on military issues. Daigle has also given a “glowing endorsement” to the efforts of the generals and the defence minister to deal with issues such as post-traumatic stress syndrome, MacKay said.
There is growing concern among some of the ombudsman’s officials that efforts by the senior Canadian Forces leadership to undercut Daigle’s authority could lead soldiers with grievances to turn more to the news media and the courts. That, in turn, could backfire on MacKay and the Conservative government, they warn.
On Monday the Citizen revealed that the Canadian Forces senior leadership dismissed Daigle’s findings that two combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorders were unfairly treated by officers and Defence Department managers.
The military is claiming that Daigle has no jurisdiction to even investigate such cases.
The decision to ignore the recommendations in Daigle’s two reports, the result of five years of investigation, appears to be a hardening of the attitude in the military leadership toward post-traumatic stress disorder cases and what the Canadian Forces ombudsman can and cannot investigate.
In a June 27 letter, Rear Admiral Andrew Smith, the Canadian Forces chief of military personnel, told Daigle he had no jurisdiction to look into the complaints from soldiers. He also told Daigle the investigation reports were not balanced.
Daigle fired back in a July 12 letter, writing that it was clear Smith did not understand the mandate of the ombudsman’s office. Daigle pointed out to Smith that the mandate clearly stated that Canadian Forces and National Defence employees, retired or current, can bring a complaint to the ombudsman in matters related to the DND and military.
“From the tone and errors in your letter, I think you are more interested in attacking our office and the core principles of our office than addressing the serious concerns of two former Canadian Forces members who were treated unfairly by your organization,” Daigle told Smith.
In the two separate reports Daigle determined that mangers from the Operational Stress Injury Social Support (OSISS) program, the organization whose job it is to help soldiers suffering from mental health issues, unfairly treated some of their own employees who were dealing with the same ailments.
The two veterans, hired as peer support coordinators, complained they were forced from their jobs after a series of run-ins with OSISS management.
In the case of one of the soldiers, retired Master Cpl. Kevin Clark, OSISS clawed back his final pay to cover the extra sick days he had to take because of his deteriorating health, the ombudsman’s report found.
The NDP also questioned MacKay’s warning to Daigle. “What no one understands is why the minister is so focused on challenging the ombudsman for doing his job instead of doing his own job and working to solve these problems,” said NDP defence critic Jack Harris.
Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: David Pugliese
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