May 30, 2013

Acting Manitoba Ombudsman Mel Holley has released the Ombudsman's Annual Report under The Ombudsman Act and The Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (PIDA) for the calendar year 2012. Also included is a supplementary report under section 16.1 of The Ombudsman Act. Section 16.1(1) describes that the Ombudsman must monitor the implementation of recommendations contained in the reports provided to the Ombudsman by the Children’s Advocate under section 8.2.3 of The Child and Family Services Act.

"We have highlighted several cases in this year's annual report that demonstrate how inadequate information or failed communication can be at the centre of complaints that are made to our office under The Ombudsman Act. We saw verbal communication break-downs between individuals and government, inadequate written communications, and outdated information contained in documentation and on the web," said Holley.

"In a section on PIDA, we've included some information about our framework for assessing gross mismanagement to help clarify how we approach these kinds of disclosures when we receive them."

Highlights of the 2012 Annual Report under The Ombudsman Act and PIDA include:

• A case that prompted us to ask Manitoba Local Government to consider changes to The Municipal Act to ensure that public notice requirements are the same whether a municipality chooses to fund a special project, such as a recreation complex, by way of a local improvement plan by-law or a general borrowing by-law. The Municipal Act was amended.
• A case that arose when an individual appealed a decision to deny his application for funding under a flood proofing initiative. The individual submitted an appeal but was not informed that the appeal body had not yet been created. He was told to "wait."
• A case where graduates of a private vocational institution offering health care aide training were not being recognized by Manitoba Health and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority as trained health care aides because the school was not on an "approved list." The list was outdated.
• An overview of our framework for assessing "gross mismanagement" under PIDA - a framework that assisted us in determining that a wrongdoing had occurred at a personal care home.

"I'm also pleased that for the first time we are in a position to share the status of implementation of the recommendations made by the Children's Advocate as a result of their child death special investigations," added Holley.

Highlights of the supplementary 2012 Report under Section 16.1 of The Ombudsman Act include:

• Our observations on the status of implementation as the entities to which the recommendations have been directed work to implement them.
• Detailed statistics on the status of the 347 Special Investigation Report recommendations received by the Ombudsman from the Office of the Children's Advocate.

"This supplementary report represents a significant step forward in oversight of the child welfare system,” Holley said. “The recommendations made by the Children's Advocate are intended to improve the child welfare system in a way that will prevent the deaths of children in the future. Our work involves critically assessing whether recommendations have been implemented as intended and reporting the results publicly."

The Ombudsman's 2012 Annual Report under The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and The Personal Health Information Act will be released the week of June 3, 2013.