She only violated the integrity of her office to protect the integrity of her office

Leave Christiane aloooooooooooooone!

We can now see why Sean Bruyea got nowhere with the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, Christiane Ouimet.  Mr. Bruyea filed a complaint with PSIC concerning violations to his right to privacy in which his personal records were passed around to many people in an effort to discredit him.

Ouimet tossed his complaint out despite a massive amount of proof in his favour.

Today, AG Sheila Fraser tabled her investigation of the PSI commish and we learn why Ouimet considered what was done to Bruyea as no biggie:

19. We found that the Commissioner:

disclosed personal information about the complainant to his previous employer, to senior officials in government, and to the private sector security consultant;

requested access to the complainant’s personnel file from his previous employer in order to use this information in a security investigation that targeted the complainant and three other former PSIC employees;

prepared and circulated information about the complainant within PSIC, which included leading the preparation of four binders comprising 96 documents and totalling more than 375 pages of information about him, circulating at least 50 emails about him, and involving at least 6 of her staff in these activities; and

did not meet her obligations under the Treasury Board’s Policy on Privacy Protection and under the Privacy Act, in responding to the requests made by the complainant to access his personal information in PSIC’s possession.

So the person in charge of making sure others in positions of authority in the public sector act with integrity is guilty of massive violations herself.

The AG’s report also concluded that Ouimet was generally abusive to staff – swearing at them, threatening their jobs, causing them fear.

I don’t agree with trivial lawsuits.  What this public servant has done is far from trivial and every person affected by her should sue her ass.  The public has been paying her salary for the past 25 years and she more than failed the public.  People like her have no social conscience to appeal to.  Lawsuits, they understand.

Ouimet’s explanation?

21. The Commissioner told us that she acted in good faith at all times and intended no prejudice toward anyone. The Commissioner told us that she had acted to protect the reputation of her Office and on the advice that she received from PSIC’s Departmental Audit Committee.

It would have been better not to have a commissioner because those with complaints would have gone elsewhere for help.  This piece of crap actually served as a barrier to legitimate complaints.  She should not be allowed to simply resign and walk away (with severance pay and benefits, I’m sure).

The AG’s report cleared up some questions, but there’s still at least one huge one that needs to be answered.  Was Ouimet following someone else’s instructions or is she simply independently vile, vicious, duplicitous?

I doubt she’ll ever tell.  If she turns up on some CON friendly board down the road, though, we’ll have our answer.