Senate Committee Studying CBC Nearly Crossed Line: Ombudsman

OTTAWA — A Senate committee studying the future of CBC/Radio-Canada came dangerously close to “political interference,” French-language service ombudsman Pierre Tourangeau said Monday.

In an interview with The Huffington Post Canada, Tourangeau said non-elected senators had no business calling him or his CBC counterpart, Esther Enkin, to testify. The “partisan” senators, he said, also had no business calling journalists in charge of news operations, such as Jennifer McGuire and Michel Cormier, to appear before them.

‘This is not a police state,’ Ombudsman says

Ottawa police Chief Charles Bordeleau says the suggestion by the province’s ombudsman that the police service is resisting an investigation into whether new use-of-force guidelines are needed is “unfounded” and “not factually based.”

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin told the Citizen’s editorial board on Tuesday that civilian governing bodies need to act to curb police power.

He said he’s facing resistance from some police services — including Ottawa’s — to his investigation, which began after this summer’s fatal shooting of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim by Toronto police.

Marin said the provincial ministry of community safety and correctional services has been loathe to rein in the police, and police services boards “have not been asserting themselves as much as they should.”

Sammy Yatim Shooting: Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin Launches Formal Probe

TORONTO - Ontario's ombudsman will probe what kind of direction the provincial government provides to police for defusing conflict situations in the wake of the fatal shooting of a Toronto teen.

The police shooting of Sammy Yatim, 18, raises the question of whether it's time for Ontario to have consistent and uniform guidelines on how police should de-escalate situations before they lead to the use of force, watchdog Andre Marin said Thursday.

Toronto ombudsman: Rob Ford got TCHC facts wrong while angrily defending evictions

Mayor Rob Ford says he disagrees with “many things” in the ombudsman’s report on the Toronto Community Housing Corp.’s mistreatment of seniors with unpaid rent — though he does not appear to be familiar with much of what the report says.

Ford reverted Thursday to the bombastic speaking style he has rarely deployed in a council meeting since he was elected mayor. Gesticulating and shouting, he defended the TCHC for eviction practices the TCHC has already conceded were improper in the wake of an investigation by ombudsman Fiona Crean.

Canada's Military Ombudsman Wants Access To Secret Cabinet Records And Information

OTTAWA - Canada's military ombudsman is reviewing whether he has the right to look at cabinet secrets in light of stonewalling from the Harper government during a recent investigation into the care of reservists.

Pierre Daigle's office ran into roadblocks when it asked for documents related to the inability of National Defence to deliver on a promise to increase dismemberment coverage for part-time soldiers.

Opposition MPs Want Answers On Why The Canadian Forces Ombudsman Is Being Blocked by the Harper Government?

Opposition MPs are crying foul over the issue involving the latest watchdog to run into a roadblock/roadblocks with the Conservative government.

Canadian Forces Ombudsman Pierre Daigle is being stonewalled in his request to view cabinet documents, including those that deal with the failure of the Canadian Forces and the DND to increase dismemberment coverage for reservists. Daigle doesn’t want to report on documents – he just wants to examine them to find out why the government won’t provide better coverage for part-time soldiers.

Healthcare check-up: Should the province’s ombudsman have oversight of hospitals?

Every year, the office of Ontario’s Ombudsman receives hundreds of complaints from people who claim they’ve been wronged by hospitals. Here are three of the 383 that came in last year:

 • One woman complained about a lengthy emergency room delay that she feels may have contributed to her father’s death.

 • The daughter of a woman with dementia claimed she was retaliated against by hospital staff after she made a complaint about her mother’s care.

 • A female patient accused male hospital staff of throwing her to the ground, handcuffing her, stripping her naked and putting her in a gown. After complaining to the hospital, the woman said she was told her claim could not be verified because cameras in the room were not working.

Ontario ombudsman André Marin says municipalities ‘shockingly secretive’

Ontario ombudsman André Marin says the province must put “some teeth” into its government transparency legislation by penalizing municipal councils which break open meeting laws.

Saying “shocking secrecy” exists in some of Ontario’s 444 municipalities, Marin said the government should consider prosecuting councillors and making them face fines or jail time for holding secret meetings.

Toronto Deputy Mayor Doug Holiday seeks review of watchdog jobs

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday will officially ask if it’s possible to combine the jobs of Toronto’s civic watchdogs, but says he is trying to save taxpayers’ money, not dump ombudsman Fiona Crean.

Holyday said he will ask city staff at this week’s council meeting for a review of legislative requirements for the ombudsman, integrity commissioner and lobbyist registrar positions, and what other cities do.

His request is triggered by a city manager item on the agenda noting that Crean’s term expires in Nov. 2013 and the city needs to signal its intentions to her — not by the Fords’ fight with Crean, Holyday said.

Civics lesson for Rob Ford

Considering her mandate, city Ombudsman Fiona Crean is a strange target for Rob Ford and followers.

According to her job description, her mission is to address “your concerns about the service you receive from the city” and to investigate “complaints of administrative unfairness” – exactly the customer service issues Ford trumpeted during his mayoral campaign.

Mayor Rob Ford’s allies sink to a new low

For nearly five hours Thursday, Toronto city council exposed its nasty underside with such maniacal relish that only a tiny ombudsman with sturdy spine stood between the elected weasels and a disgusted public.

Fiona Crean, barely five feet tall, towered over her ill-mannered adversaries — deflecting their poisonous pronouncements with the ease of an accomplished fencer.

Pity the public service that labour beneath the club of the current administration, an outfit that governs through threats and intimidation. If you are the head of the TTC and you share a view opposite the mayor’s, you are fired, as was Gary Webster.

Mayor Rob Ford’s administration “compromised” recruitment process for city boards, ombudsman says

Mayor Rob Ford’s administration “compromised” city staff’s ability to recruit candidates for city agencies, boards and commissions, the city’s ombudsman says.

The mayor’s office first delayed, and then rushed, city staff’s vetting process for possible citizen appointees and tried to blunt city-mandated efforts to make the talent pool ethnically diverse, Fiona Crean wrote in her report released Thursday.

Ombudsman says review board failing to give veterans benefit of doubt

OTTAWA - The Harper government moved quickly Monday to limit the damage of a scathing report from Canada's veterans ombudsman, who accused a review agency of being secretive and unfair to ex-soldiers in search of benefits.

Federal Court challenges arising out of decisions from the Veterans Review and Appeal Board were the subject of an exhaustive study by the ombudsman office.

The office found that 60 per cent of the cases were returned to the agency, which is supposed to provide veterans fair, sympathetic hearings, because it did not give veterans the benefit of the doubt and did not generously interpret the law surrounding compensation.

The criticism mirrors complaints earlier this year from an outspoken board member, Harold Leduc, who claimed his private medical information was spread around the board in an effort to discredit him because he often sided with ex-soldiers.

Ombudsman Andre Marin slams SIU over pro-police bias in Michael Eligon case

The province’s Special Investigations Unit has suspended one investigator and disciplined two others for their conduct during the investigation of the February police shooting of hospital patient Michael Eligon.

The suspension follows a documentary shot by a French television crew, which shows an SIU forensic investigator in the lab wearing what is believed to be a police ring, a violation of SIU policy because it creates the appearance of a pro-police bias.

Two other investigators were ordered to get counselling from a supervisor after the TV footage appeared to show they were arriving at conclusions about what happened before the interviews were complete.

“I found it quite stunning,” said Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin, who saw the French TV video in his office two weeks ago and brought it to the SIU’s attention.

SIU Director Ian Scott said he suspended the forensic investigator within 24 hours of learning of the video.