Christiane Ouimet

Government Guts Its Own Anti-Corruption Law

Topics: 
Integrity Commissioner, Government ethics, PSDPA, Anti-corruption efforts, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
5
Christiane Ouimet

David Hutton – October 28, 2011

The government has recently taken steps to ensure that the only wrongdoer ever exposed by its five-year old whistleblower law will never be punished. By doing so it has in effect gutted its own anti-corruption legislation, the whistleblower protection that was the centrepiece of its vaunted Federal Accountability Act.

The wrongdoer in question is disgraced former federal integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet whose misconduct was exposed in a scathing report by then auditor general Sheila Fraser, following an intensive two-year investigation.

One year after Ouimet’s ‘retirement,’ questions linger

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
5
Christiane Ouimet

Sonya Bell – October 20, 2011

The news broke one year ago today, raising eyebrows all over Ottawa: Christiane Ouimet, the embattled head of Canada’s Public Sector Integrity Commission, had taken early retirement – abruptly leaving office halfway into her seven-year mandate.

PSIC kept a poker face in its press release, thanking the commissioner for her “dedication, vision, and commitment to the implementation of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act.” It wished her well.

AG's office disputes former integrity commissioner Ouimet's version of audit events

Topics: 
Integrity Commissioner, Auditor General, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
5

Jessica Bruno – June 6, 2011

The AG's office took the unusual measure of issuing a subpoena to Ms. Ouimet after she skipped an appointment with auditors on Nov. 9, 2009, which was scheduled more than a month in advance.

The Auditor General's audit of the Integrity Commissioner's Office suffered "significant delays" and took two years to complete because then-commissioner Christiane Ouimet failed to show up to pre-arranged meetings, resulting in the AG's office subpoenaing her, according to a sent letter to the House Public Accounts Committee and released by the Auditor General's Office to The Hill Times.

Integrity commissioner probe not finished: NDP

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
4.5
Christiane Ouimet

Laura Payton – May 20, 2011

The New Democrats say they aren't finished with an investigation into the work of the former public sector integrity commissioner, even if a committee study was interrupted by the federal election.

The House of Commons public accounts committee was looking at a report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser into the work of Christiane Ouimet, who resigned as public sector integrity commissioner last October.

CBC Radio: Calls for overhaul of Integrity Commissioner's office

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Audio, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
0

CBC's Karina Roman reports on calls for further action following an independent review of the whistleblower files closed by disgraced former Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet.

An audit of 221 closed files, conducted by the consulting firm Deloitte's, found errors in almost a third of them.

Review of integrity office shows cases mishandled for years: Advocacy group

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
4
Christiane Ouimet

Amy Minsky – May 17, 2011

A recent independent review of the work conducted by the integrity commissioner before she unexpectedly retired has unearthed the sheer magnitude of what it will take to rebuild and mend the federal system in place to protect whistleblowers, an alliance of accountability organizations said Tuesday.

"There are mishandled cases that are four or five years old. One is even six years old," said David Hutton, executive director of the advocacy group Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform. "Those whistleblowers have been living with this, some suffering reprisals and losing their jobs. The office of the integrity commissioner needs to prove it can do its job and can be trusted."

Deloitte report reveals magnitude of the task ahead to fix Integrity Commissioner's Office

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
5

David Hutton – May 16, 2011

“The Auditor General is wrong” former Integrity Commissioner Christiane Ouimet asserted bluntly. The occasion was her appearance before the Public Accounts Committee on March 10, summoned to respond to Sheila Fraser’s scathing report on her conduct. An independent review of Ouimet’s files now provides confirmation: the AG was right.

The consulting firm Deloitte was commissioned by interim Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion to conduct a review of all 221 files closed by OPSIC between its inception and December 20, 2010. This was purely a paper review – checking the files for the presence of certain documents and information. The consultants did not attempt to assess the quality of the work done by OPSIC staff, and their mandate did not include speaking to any whistleblowers.

New federal report echoes AG's scathing critique of ex-integrity commissioner

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
0
Christiane Ouimet

Amy Minsky – May 6, 2011

An independent review of the work conducted by the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner when Christiane Ouimet was in charge mirrors a report by the auditor general which suggested Ouimet bungled her job.

The audit, conducted for the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner and addressed to its interim commissioner, found problems with the way Ouimet handled her responsibilities while commissioner.

Independent audit confirms AG report's findings of problems in Integrity Commissioner's office

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
5

Jessica Bruno – May 6, 2011

An independent audit of the Office of the Public Integrity Commissioner confirms Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s earlier report that there were problems in many of the cases of wrongdoing brought to the office, helmed by Christiane Ouimet.

There were defects in 70 of the 221 cases closed by the Office of the Public Integrity Commissioner, the majority while Ms. Ouimet was its head. Many of the 70 flawed files included multiple issues, making for 114 problems in total.

Deloitte report on closed OPSIC files published

Topics: 
PSIC, Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet
Rating: 
0

May 4, 2011

The Deloitte report – commissioned by interim Integrity Commissioner Mario Dion to examine hundreds of case files closed by his predecessor Christiane Ouimet – was finally published today.

Publication of the report, which is dated March 31, was held back by Dion to avoid influencing the election, a move that was criticised by some as inappropriate.

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