Glen Korstrom
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 09/99) - Fort Smith resident Erik Hughes relates his lobbying for the creation of an NWT ombudsoffice to picking up litter.

"None of us really proposes to clean up the world's pollution problem, but we're going to do our little bit in our neighbourhood whenever we see it," Hughes said.

"The same thing applies to the political process."

The owner of the consulting firm 360 Degrees North said he sees many examples of government workers not helping the public or giving information because it would mean more work for themselves.

Incentives are not linked to performance, he said.

One example of Hughes' personal problems with government started when he applied for a job with the NWT Power Corp.

He feels he was turned down because of problems paying a previous power bill and he says that should not have played a role in getting hired or not.

Hughes took his battle to his MLA, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Michael Miltenberger, by writing him a letter and trying to drop it off at a Fort Smith ECE office.

He said staff at the office turned him away even though Miltenberger's constituency office was closed.

"If I have a letter for the president of the Royal Bank, I can drop it off at a branch. Why isn't it the same thing with government?" Hughes asked.

Hughes has approached various branches of government up to Premier Jim Antoine's office asking where to go to appeal decisions and whether there could be the creation of an ombudsoffice.

Pietro de Bastiani, who is Premier Antoine's assistant, said he has talked to some people about the possible creation of such an office and is waiting for a letter to get the official process going.

Alberta has the oldest ombudsoffice in Canada, created 30 years ago, according to acting ombudsman Pam McHugh.

She called the office an "independent reviewer of legislation and a third party," but stressed all other avenues of appeal must be followed before her office gets involved.

"We always ask if a person has talked to a supervisor first. Sometimes, with social assistance for example, there's an appeal panel," McHugh said.

"But we can't look at any complaint until people have exhausted all available appeal routes."

For Hughes, the mission to create an office which exists in virtually all provinces is an end in itself even if he did not have a specific complaint.

"There needs to be an independent third party from government up here," he said.