The B.C. government went against the advice of its own lawyers in 2012 when it publicly referred to RCMP involvement in the case of fired Health Ministry researchers, says NDP MLA Adrian Dix.
Just hours prior to a news conference by then health minister Margaret MacDiarmid on Sept. 6, 2012, Justice Ministry counsel advised the government not to say the RCMP was involved, Dix said Wednesday.
While Dix can’t provide definitive proof, and the Justice Ministry won’t comment, the NDP MLA said the information was confirmed by the Justice Ministry.
“People at the Ministry of Justice have told me that’s the case — that they advised against [including the RCMP],” Dix said. “I think the evidence supports that that was the advice given.”
Dix also released previously blacked-out sections of a review of the investigation by independent lawyer Marcia McNeil last December. Those sections show the Justice Ministry provided advice “with respect to the reference to the RCMP in the news release” issued on the firings, though what counsel advised was not included in the report.
At the Sept. 6 news conference, MacDiarmid announced the ministry had fired four people and suspended three without pay, and had “asked the RCMP to investigate.”
In the end, the fired researchers were exonerated — two were rehired, four resolved settlements and just two wrongful dismissal suits remain unresolved.
Meanwhile, the RCMP never launched a formal investigation. The government said in February that it no longer wanted the RCMP to look into the issue.
One of those fired was a co-op student just three days shy of completing his term. Roderick MacIsaac killed himself in December of 2012. The suggestions of an RCMP investigation increased MacIsaac’s frustration and stress around allegations he knew to be wrong about a privacy breach, his family said.
The RCMP reference was all propaganda and innuendo, Linda Kayfish, the dead man’s sister, said Wednesday. “They wanted to strongly infer something was wrong, while at the same time provide an excuse for not having to provide any facts.”
The documents Dix released Wednesday included appendix C and D of the McNeil report, which had previously been blacked out by the government, which cited privacy concerns.
Dix used those sections to show that on the eve of the Health Ministry’s press conference, Justice Ministry counsel sent an email to the Public Service Agency “confirming no advice has been sought regarding whether there was just cause to dismiss any ministry employee.”
On Wednesday, Dix called the email an obvious attempt by the Justice Ministry to create a paper trail.
The Justice Ministry would not speak to the issue of its counsel’s advice Wednesday.
“The question of legal advice is a matter of solicitor-client privilege,” Justice Minister Suzanne Anton said. “I’m not going to discuss things that are a matter of solicitor-client privilege.”
It all points to the need for a public inquiry, where deputy ministers are compelled to testify under oath, Dix said, because as McNeil’s critical report noted, none of those involved in the investigation took responsibility for making the decision to fire the employees. Instead, they just pointed fingers at one another, he said.
“It turned out to be a terrible injustice for all,” Dix said. “What I think is that the people who are all responsible here, all reporting to the premier, and the premier herself, should come clean, independently, about what happened.”
B.C. Premier Christy Clark said Wednesday she and the Health Ministry have already apologized for the firings, had the investigation independently reviewed, and acted on the review’s recommendations to change “the way government works so it can’t happen again.”
“Government made serious mistakes ... there is just no question about it,” Clark said. “I understand there is a lot of politics for Adrian Dix in this, but my point of view is we have to make sure these kinds of mistakes don’t happen and that’s why we sought this review and that’s why we’ve acted on the results of the review.”
