Scathing report

When Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Christiane Ouimet the first public sector integrity commissioner in 2007, he described her as a “strong and dedicated manager with a proven background in operations.” He said she was “more than capable” of taking on important responsibilities.

But many questioned the veracity of those words when, last October, Ouimet abruptly resigned four years before her term was scheduled to end.

An investigation of her office by the auditor general’s office was already underway, prompted by Ouimet’s employees’ complaints.

Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s report determined that in three-and-a-half years, Ouimet’s office investigated five out of 228 complaints filed. There were no findings of misconduct.

One of the cases that Ouimet’s office failed to pursue was a complaint by Sean Bruyea. The military veteran received a federal apology, as well as an out-of-court settlement when itwas determined Veterans Affairs officials had shared his sensitive personal and medical information.

Fraser interviewed 34 former and current members of Ouimet’s office, and found that she was abusive to her staff, and that she yelled, swore at, and berated them.

According to one employee’s letter of complaint, 18 of the 22 staff members in Ouimet’s office had left over a 12-month period. The average staff turnover rate in the office was 50 per cent per year.

To make matters worse, the report also found that Ouimet carried out vendettas against her staff she thought had complained about her, even after they left her office.

In one example, Ouimet carried out a reprisal against an employee six months after he left. The former commissioner believed that the employee had complained about her to the Auditor General.

Ouimet disclosed personal information about the individual to a previous employer, senior government officials and to a consultant.

There were also examples of Ouimet marginalizing certain employees by removing them from decision-making processes, overloading them with work, removing all their responsibilities completely, or simply ignoring them.

Some former employees even reported experiencing health problems as a result of the terrible work environment.

In an interview with Fraser, Ouimet alleged that certain employees in the office who had made allegations against her were angry about not being given promotions promised by previous managers.

The report found that the complaints against Ouimet were legitimate, and that all of the filings that did not result in investigations under her tenure should be revisited.

Parliament decided to subpoena Ouimet to appear at the Commons Public Accounts committee to explain herself.

On three separate days, a bailiff went to the door of her suburban Ottawa home to issue a summons to appear.

The first time, a girl answered saying that she was Ouimet’s niece and that the former commissioner was out of the country.

No one answered the second time, but the bailiff left a card, and found it was gone the third time he went to the home. No one answered the door.

Since the summons was not officially issued to her, she did not officially refuse to appear. Phone messages to Ouimet went unanswered.

Ouimet is set to finally appear to Parliament Hill on March 10 to respond to the Auditor General’s scathing report.

With files from Postmedia News