The whistleblower who touched off the 2012 health firings scandal is questioning whether asking the province’s ombudsperson to probe the issue is a ploy by the B.C. government to avoid examination of what’s really wrong.
“The government is continuing to attempt to obfuscate what really is going on by focusing on what they say is ‘botched firings’ because the truth is so much worse,” Alana James told the Times Colonist in an email from Australia, where she now works as a lawyer.
In March 2012, James, then a Health Ministry employee, brought a slew of documents to then auditor general John Doyle, who took her information to the B.C. government.
Her information included allegations about contract irregularities along with suggestions of conflict of interest, privacy breaches and data mismanagement. Her tip kicked off an internal investigation that led to the firing of eight drug researchers. One researcher, Roderick MacIsaac, killed himself months later.
James told the Vancouver Sun: “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 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.”
The government has since said the investigation was unfair and mistakes were made. It has rehired two of the employees and settled with four. Two cases remain before the courts. The RCMP has ruled out any criminal wrongdoing.
James now accuses the government of launching another ill-fated review, perhaps deliberately.
“I don’t think the Office of the Ombudsperson is equipped to get to the bottom of this and that could be the point of appointing them to investigate,” James said.
On Friday, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake announced the province’s new ombudsperson, Jay Chalke, who recently served as a top official in the Justice Ministry, will investigate the health firings.
Lake said the ombudsperson will be asked “to investigate the events leading up to the decision to terminate the employees, the decision to terminate itself, and the actions taken by government following the terminations, in addition to any other matters he may deem worthy of investigation.”
On Monday, Lake said the ombudsperson’s terms are broad and he was appointed to the post with the unanimous endorsement of the legislature. “The ombudsperson has the discretion to determine the scope of any investigation, as well as the power to subpoena records and witnesses.”
James said the issue is much bigger than the firings and the investigation must include a probe of how funding was shifted among contractors, individuals, organizations, universities and companies, starting 10 years prior to the firings. One concern is that current and former government employees working as contractors may have drafted contracts that gave colleagues or family special treatment in funding and data access.
“An investigation limited to the circumstances of the firings will not uncover what happened and what likely is still happening,” James said.
The Office of the Ombudsperson has much of the same powers to investigate as a commission of inquiry — mainly to subpoena witnesses, take testimony under oath and obtain documents — and the government views it as “a timely and cost-effective way” to get answers.
On Monday, the seven fired drug researchers, along with MacIsaac’s sister, signed a joint statement saying anything short of a public inquiry isn’t good enough.
“A review by the Office of the Ombudsperson is problematic because the office suffers from an inadequate mandate, issues of perception of conflict and bias, and insufficient resources and experience for this type of investigation,” said the statement.
Lake said Friday that all current government employees or MLAs will co-operate and others can be subpoenaed. The researchers are wary, however.
“Nothing short of a fully independent inquiry or investigation will satisfy the right of the public to understand how research done to increase the safety of prescription medicines and to protect the public purse could be terminated in such a manner,” the statement says.
They also want an inquiry to look at whether the pharmaceutical industry had influence in the matter.
James rejected suggestions the firings were related to research into the safety and effectiveness of specific drugs funded by the province.
The list of those calling for a public inquiry and concerned about Chalke’s perceived conflict includes Doyle (to whom James is now married), the NDP, B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union president Stephanie Smith, and former deputy health minister Graham Whitmarsh, who fired the researchers.
An all-party legislative committee of MLAs is scheduled to meet Wednesday. The Liberals have a majority on the committee
The committee must refer the investigation to the ombudsperson for the probe to begin.
This story was first posted in the Times Colonist.
