Sean Bruyea

Vets advocate revives privacy war with feds

Topics: 
Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs, Privacy
Rating: 
0

Murray Brewster – May 28, 2012

A veterans advocate has complained to the privacy watchdog about an internal report that largely exonerates federal bureaucrats who spread around his personal medical information.

The Veterans Affairs investigation into Sean Bruyea’s case has revived questions about how seriously the Harper government has treated breaches of privacy of ex-soldiers.

Vets department and board struggled for years to contain privacy leaks

Topics: 
Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs, Privacy
Rating: 
3

Murray Brewster – February 16, 2012

Veterans Affairs Canada and the independent board that reviews claims of ex-soldiers grappled with allegations of leaked personal information long before a privacy scandal blew up in public.

A series of leaked documents show the department and the agency tried — and ultimately failed — in the spring of 2009 to tighten up the system and clamp down on bureaucrats who'd been rifling through the files of veterans advocates and opponents.

Stakeholder Committees and Other Reasons for a Public Inquiry into Veterans Affairs

Topics: 
Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs
Rating: 
0
Steven Blaney

Veterans need to shed their well-indoctrinated sense of loyalty and sacrifice to a government system that has neither shown them loyalty at the senior levels nor sacrifice.

Sean Bruyea – February 6, 2012

Veterans Affairs claims it wants to do business differently. The big question is: can Parliament, Canada, and veterans trust the bureaucracy? And can veterans trust that the veteran organizations will not just bark but finally bite when Veterans Affairs Canada instinctually and inevitably strays off the path?

Veterans Affairs has a six-decade old habit of keeping a tight leash on CF veterans. The department has failed to fulfill its legal and ethical obligations to Canadian Forces members and their families by denying CF veterans access to similar assistance given to World War II veterans.

New whistleblower watchdog called 'unwise' pick

Topics: 
Integrity Commissioner, Sean Bruyea, Appointments process, Mario Dion
Rating: 
5
Sean Bruyea

Reject Mario Dion, whistleblower advocates say

Meagan Fitzpatrick – December 14, 2011

Advocates for whistleblowers said the appointment of Mario Dion as the new public sector integrity commissioner is an "unwise" one Wednesday and asked MPs to reject the nomination.

"There are many reasons to fear that Mr. Dion will prove to be an ineffective integrity commissioner, perhaps no better than disgraced former commissioner Christiane Ouimet," David Hutton, executive director of a group called FAIR, said at a news conference on Parliament Hill.

Government privacy breaches alarming

Topics: 
Reprisals, Government ethics, Sean Bruyea, Privacy
Rating: 
0
Cindy Blackstock

Mia Rabson – November 12, 2011

Most of us are apt to dismiss those who fear Big Brother is watching as conspiracy theorists in tinfoil hats. But for the executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, being an outspoken critic of the federal government seems to have landed her a starring role in her own version of George Orwell's 1984.

Cindy Blackstock discovered recently the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development has spent countless hours tailing her to speeches, stalking her on social media and writing up detailed briefing notes on almost every word she utters.

Veterans Affairs Canada has a case of premature closure

Topics: 
Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs
Rating: 
3

Sean Bruyea – April 11, 2011

OTTAWA—Just prior to the election campaign kick-off, Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn showed just how out of sync he and some in the department are with veterans and Canadians, not to mention Canadian law and Treasury Board policies. He recently made a number of public comments in Alexandria, Ont., ("The Review," March 23, 2011) in response to widespread privacy law breaches by Veterans Affairs bureaucrats.

Last fall, nationwide revelations showed that department bureaucrats had illegally and widely trafficked in my private financial and medical information. To date, 54 individuals have been disciplined mostly with letters of reprimand although some received up to three-day suspensions. It is not known whether these were paid suspensions. The minister justified disciplinary leniency, emphasizing it was as if privacy protection "didn't exist" and that "no one had a system adapted to the new requirements [of the Privacy Act]."

Veterans Affairs Canada has a perverse understanding of 'consultation'

Topics: 
Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs
Rating: 
0

Sean Bruyea – March 21, 2011

In a most bizarre déjà vu, history repeated itself on March 11 when the House passed Bill C-55. The bill was sold as the fix-for-all that ails veterans' legislation originally passed in 2005, legislation which replaced lifelong payments for pain and suffering for injured soldiers with a one-time lump sum.

The tactics which forced through Bill C-55 as well as the original 2005 legislation are near mirror images of disturbing bureaucratic processes.

Bureaucrats who violated veteran's privacy get ‘slap on the wrist’

Topics: 
Government ethics, Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs
Rating: 
3

Murray Brewster – March 8, 2011

Veterans Affairs bureaucrats who rifled through the personal files of a department critic were handed written reprimands and three-day suspensions – penalties the victim calls a “slap on the wrist.”

An internal investigation found 54 Veterans Affairs bureaucrats improperly snooped through Sean Bruyea's personal files, including medical and psychiatric reports. Some of them used the information to smear the outspoken critic.

Veteran Bruyea settles lawsuit against feds

Topics: 
Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs, Privacy
Rating: 
5

Norma Greenaway – November 18, 2010

OTTAWA — Saying he is close to closing a "disturbing chapter" in his life, veteran Sean Bruyea has settled his $400,000 lawsuit against the federal government over abuse of his personal and financial files.

Bruyea made the announcement Thursday but, as per tradition, said the terms of the settlement are confidential. "My wife and I are relieved that after five years of despair, we have taken back ownership of our lives," Bruyea said in a statement.

CTV Power Play: Sean Bruyea discusses his settlement, implications

Topics: 
Sean Bruyea, Veterans Affairs, Privacy
Rating: 
5

November 18, 2010

CTV Power Play Sean Bruyea

CTV host Paula Newton interviews veteran Sean Bruyea about the recent announcement that he has received a settlement from the government in his lawsuit against Veterans Affairs, and the implications of this for Bruyea, his family and his advocacy work.

Bruyea is the disabled veteran whose confidential medical records were illegally accessed by Veterans Affairs officials more than 800 times, and widely distributed throughout the department and to the minister, apparently in an attempt to destroy his credibility and to punish him for his vigorous criticism of VAC's conduct.

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