Watchdog shares expertise
Ontario ombudsman invited to NWT while MLAs consider creating equivalent in the territory
Randi Beers
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 7, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
In words reminiscent of venerable electronic duo Daft Punk, Andre Marin believes an ombudsman office has the potential to make the territorial government "cheaper, better, faster, stronger".
The Ontario ombudsman was in Yellowknife Monday night to host a town hall meeting in the legislative assembly about the possibility of establishing an office like his in the Northwest Territories.
But he had to get one topic out of the way first.
"I got one question," joked Marin as he took the podium in front of around 40 people.
"Why did David Suzuki visit on my day?"
He was acknowledging the fact the CBC host and influential environmentalist was hosting a climate change panel discussion at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre the same night. Despite the competition, there was barely an empty seat in the Great Hall for Marin's event.
An ombudsman is an officer independent of any legislature with the power to investigate public complaints against territorial government departments, corporations, agencies, boards, commissions and tribunals. An ombudsman does not investigate the private sector, cabinet decisions, courts or other levels of government.
After giving an hour-long presentation that covered the scope of his work - his office handled 27,000 complaints last year - as well as a few recent high profile investigations, including the discovery of $200 million in fraudulent Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation winnings, guests were invited to ask questions of the panel. Aside from Marin, the panel was made up of and members of the Standing Committee on Government Operations including Frame Lake MLA Wendy Bisaro, Deh Cho MLA Michael Nadli, Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny and Sahtu MLA Norman Yakeleya.
David Wasylciw was one of about a dozen people who had questions for the panel. He took the mic early on to ask whether it might be more efficient to enhance existing committee powers to do investigations instead of opening up an entire new office.
Marin answered that an argument could be made for Wasylciw's suggestion, but an ombudsman's office has advantages. He said ombudsmen are speedy, efficient and trained investigators and many are lawyers.
Dolynny added his own perspective to Wasylciw's question as a member of committee.
"The way committee is designed, it is, by nature, a big bureaucracy," he said.
"To add the complexity of any investigation, we just don't have the time or the resources."
Mark Bogan also stood up to ask who an ombudsman would be accountable to.
"If you put too many strings on (the ombudsman office), you lose independence ... how do you strike a balance?" asked Marin in response.
"I write an annual report, five or six special reports, I'm visible publicly, I tweet all day long, I'm directly accountable to the public by my visibility."
The standing committee report on establishing an ombudsman office estimates preliminary costs would be $400,000 the first year, which one participant noted would work out to $1,000 per NWT resident. To close out the night, Colin Baile advised the committee that if they are going to open an ombudsman office, they should resource it appropriately.
"I think you've got quite the dam of complaints built up," he said.
"I believe there could possibly be a bit of a landslide once they open their doors."
Two other jurisdictions in Canada don't have an ombudsman office - Nunavut and Prince Edward Island.
Northwest Territories leaders have been talking about establishing an ombudsman office since 1992, and a motion passed in June 2012, led to a June 2014 committee report on the subject, released in June 2014, as well as Marin's trip to the territory.
MLAs debated a motion that directs government to draft legislation to create an ombudsman office Thursday afternoon. Regular members voted unanimously to pass the motion, while cabinet abstained.
Cabinet has 120 days to respond to the contents of the motion.
