May 13, 2014

Acting Manitoba Ombudsman Mel Holley has released Manitoba Ombudsman's annual reports for the calendar year 2013:

• Report under The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and The Personal Health Information Act (PHIA)
• Report  under The Ombudsman Act and The Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Act (PIDA).

FIPPA and PHIA report

"This report demonstrates the range of issues about which we receive complaints, and how my office interprets and applies access and privacy legislation in response to those complaints. This year we looked at several issues involving the right to correct personal information held by public bodies and trustees , the 'ownership' of personal emails sent and stored on a public body's electronic network, and access to contracts between public bodies and private companies for the provision of goods and services, and more," said Acting Manitoba Ombudsman Mel Holley. “The use made of the legislation by the public  demonstrates its value in supporting and sustaining open and transparent government.”

"The report also documents the ways in which we meet our other statutory obligations — promoting and informing  the public and public bodies about their access and privacy rights and obligations, and the broader access and privacy policy issues that continue to be of public interest."

Highlights of the 2013 annual report under FIPPA and PHIA include:

• A case in which several employees of the City of Winnipeg believed that the Winnipeg Parking Authority was collecting too much personal information in order to issue parking permits (“do they really need to collect my personal information?”).
• A case that highlights how the Winnipeg Police Service met FIPPA’s duty to assist an applicant making a request for access to a large number of records (“the big search”).
• A case in which the University of Manitoba initially withheld its entire contract with Xerox Canada for the provision of managed print services. The ombudsman found that much of the information in the contract was publicly available from the parties, or standard contractual terms and general information, which should have been released (“open for business”).
• A couple of cases that focus on access and privacy issues surrounding email records (“you’ve got mail” and “whose record is it?”).
• An overview of the numerous ways in which we shared information about access and privacy rights, including highlights of our 2013 access and privacy conferences, and publication of a brochure and video titled “Know your health information rights: eChart Manitoba: Manitoba’s electronic health information system.”
• An overview of new sanctions for intentional privacy violations under PHIA.
• Detailed statistics that show the disposition of the 399 access and privacy cases investigated in 2013 under FIPPA and PHIA.

The Ombudsman Act and PIDA report

“2013 brought with it a dramatic increase in whistleblower disclosures compared to previous years. In 2013, we received 47 disclosures of wrongdoing, which resulted in 16 investigations. This report contains more information about those disclosures, and about our PIDA investigation processes. We believe this demonstrates a growing confidence in the legislation. The report also contains a summary of the recommendations we have made to improve the whistleblower legislation, based on our experience with it since 2007.”

"We have also highlighted several cases in this annual report that demonstrate the variety of complaints made to our office about municipal government under The Ombudsman Act. An analysis of the numbers and types of municipal complaints we received suggests a growing interest in accountability at the local government level," added Holley.

Highlights of the 2013 annual report under The Ombudsman Act and PIDA include:

• A case in which a municipality failed to meet its responsibility for by-law enforcement, resulting in a significant cost to a resident.
• Two cases involving municipal building permits. In one case, a  municipality failed to notify residents in a timely manner that their building permit had been issued in error, only notifying them after construction of a home had begun. In another case, a resident’s new cottage built on land purchased from a municipality after obtaining the necessary permit, was subsequently found to be encroaching on adjacent  municipal property.
• A case in which we asked government to reconsider its decision after a farmer was denied a rebate under The Fuel Tax Act for using unmarked fuel for his agriculture operations.
• A case involving numerous complaints about changes to the role of pharmacy technicians in Manitoba. While we concluded that there was no alleged maladministration that would warrant an ombudsman investigation, we were able to provide information to the complainants about the basis for the changes, as well as information about educational requirements of the newly regulated profession.
• An overview of the 16 PIDA investigations undertaken in 2013, and the status of each.
• A detailed explanation of our PIDA processes, from our preliminary analyses of disclosures, to assessing whether the disclosures meet the threshold of wrongdoing, to investigation procedures and reporting on investigations.

For the second year, we have reported on the status of implementation of the recommendations made by the children's advocate as a result of their child death special investigations. 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. Manitoba Ombudsman assesses whether recommendations have been implemented as intended and reports the results publicly.

Highlights of the supplementary 2013 report under section 16.1 of The Ombudsman Act include:

• 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 390 special investigation report recommendations received by the ombudsman from the children's advocate.

Manitoba Ombudsman’s 2013 annual reports are available in print by contacting the office at ombudsman@ombudsman.mb.ca, 204-982-9130, 1-800-665-0531 (toll-free in Manitoba), or online at www.ombudsman.mb.ca.