– Alana James – a lawyer who worked as a senior health information advisor; whistleblower who no longer works for the ministry (g)
– John Doyle – auditor general (p)
Alana and John – I have the utmost respect and admiration for both of you.
Premiers (n) The big turdits, ultimately responsible for ensuring that our information was protected and none of them followed the law, i.e. FIPPA (in effect since 1993) or The Privacy Act . Isn’t this, at best, a dereliction of duty?
– Christy Clark (Liberal) – 14 Mar 2011
– Gordon Campbell (Liberal) – 5 Jun 2001 to 14 Mar 2011 – Ujjal Dosanjh (NDP) – 24 Feb 2000 to 5 June 2001
– Dan Miller (NDP) – 25 Aug 1999 to 24 Feb 2000
– Glen Clark (NDP) – 22 Feb 1996 to 25 Aug 1999
– Mike Harcourt (NDP) – 5 Nov 1991 to 22 Feb 1996
Health Ministers (o) (next in line regarding ultimate responsibility):
– Terry Lake – 10 Jun 2013 – current health minister
– Margaret MacDiarmid – 05 Sept 2012 to June 2013 – then health minister – *
– Mike de Jong – 14 Mar 2011 to 05 Sep 2012 – health minister when two of the known “leaks” occurred and the “investigation” began – *
– Colin Hansen – 30 Nov 2010 to 14 Mar 2011 – *
– Kevin Falcon – 10 Jun 2009 to 30 Nov 2010
– George Abbott – 16 Jun 2005 to 10 Jun 2009 – *
– Shirley Bond – 15 Dec 2004 to 16 Jun 2005
– Colin Hansen – 05 Jun 2001 to 15 Dec 2004 – *
– Corky Evans – 01 Nov 2000 to 05 June 2001
– Mike Farnworth – 29 Feb 2000 to 01 Nov 2000
– Penny Priddy – 18 Feb 1998 to 24 Feb 2000
– Joy MacPhail – 17 Jun 1996 to 18 Feb 1998
– Andrew Petter – 28 Feb 1996 to 17 June 1996
– Paul Ramsey – Sept 1993 to Feb 1996
Also, there are deputy ministers, associate deputy ministers and assistant deputy ministers and the opposition health critics but no one did, or said, anything. This wasn’t a small error, a slip up, this was/is huge, this was/is intentional. Did it make it easier to share our information with all their despicable friends and party donors, for example the pharmaceutical companies??
Opposition party leaders and heath critics, such as Adrian Dix, also had a responsibility to speak up but they didn’t. And I don’t believe that they didn’t know that the health ministry was massively violating people’s privacy and the law. And as John Doyle said, this issue goes beyond the health ministry (see post “Our Information Is Not Protected – Part I”).
Some of these people will leave office and try to redeem themselves. But we know who they are and, at least some, of what they have done. It’s like Tony Blair and Condaleeza Rice who are responsible for hundreds of thousands, or is it millions, of injuries and deaths of innocent people during the Iraq war (some consider them mass murderers), but after they leave office they go on a “peace” mission to redeem their reputation. Like other politicians, they can’t. They are what they are and they did what they did and nothing will change that. Their stench will continue to emanate from them forever.
OTHERS INVOLVED
– Graham Whitmarsh – “deputy minister at the time of the firings and later fired by the government” (c) ( lost his job as part of a post-election “shuffle” of cabinet ministers and deputies); “was one of the people who signed off while working in the finance ministry last year on forgiving David Basi and Bob Virk’s $6 million legal fees after they pleaded guilty to charges in the BC Rail corruption case.”(h) – John Dyble – was deputy minister of health services, now deputy minister to the premier (g) – Stephen Brown – assistant deputy minister until April 2011, then to Ministry of Children and Family Development (p), now deputy minister for health (c) – Elaine McKnight – “associate deputy minister in health supervised the people who conducted the early stages of the investigation” (c) and current head of the public service agency (replaced Tarras)(g) – Health Ministry assistant deputy ministers Lindsay Kislock, Manjit Sidhu and Barbara Walman, were put in charge of the investigation (f), and the public version of the report had their names redacted from the terms of reference for the 2012 review that eventually led to the firings, included in McNeil’s report as Appendix C. (j) Manjit Sidu was also direct supervisor to Alana James (see his comments to her concerns).f)
– Bob Nakagawa “left his position as assistant deputy minister in charge of the pharmaceutical services division in April 2012” (h) – John Bethel – “a former BC Liberal candidate and member of Premier Clark’s transition” team replaced Bob Kakagawa (h)
– Linda Tarras – head of PSA and retired at the end of October 2014 and wrote the terms of reference for the review (i)
– Rebecca Warburton – co-director of research and evidence development in the ministry’s pharmaceutical services division and Roderick MacIssac’s thesis supervisor (h)
– Bill Warburton – has a PhD in economics and worked as the director of the economic analysis branch for the former ministry of human resources, had a $1 a year contract that gave him access to drug data (h), a health economist who had just been hired by the University of Victoria to oversee an Alzheimer’s disease drug research project, (29)
– Roderick MacIsaac – a PhD student in the University of Victoria’s school of public administration, on a co-op work term, Rebecca Warburton was his advisor. Mr. MacIsaac committed suicide. (l) – Bob Hart – the director of data access, research and stewardship (k), with the ministry for 30 years(h) – Ramsay Hamdi, a senior economist in the utilization health care and risk management branch (14)
– David Scott – a senior researcher in the analysis branch (h)
– Malcolm Maclure – a director of research and evidence development with the ministry’s pharmaceutical services division (30) and had appointments to Uvic and the University of BC (14)
– Ron Mattson – a special projects manager with PharmaCare, was involved in the Alzheimer’s Drug Therapy Initiative (14), an employee for 27 years (h); a View Royal city councillor(m)
– Sara Brownlee – led the team that undertook the investigation and member of staff of PSA (c)
-Investigator from the chief information officer’s office. “Sara and Wendy were, to my knowledge, the only individuals who attended every meeting and employee interview.” [Graham Whitmarsh]. The pair was key, he said. “They collected all evidence and wrote all reports with respect to the entire investigation process. In addition, they drafted all the letters advising employees of disciplinary actions.” (c)
– Dale Samsonoff – advanced education executive director (d) – Ted Boomer – director of the Ministry’s Accounting Operations Branch (b) – Grace Foran – health director of executive operations (d) – Greg Tonn and Don Rintoul (d) – Ryan Jabs – Ministry spokesperson (f) – Laine Coopsie – senior audit advisor in the health ministry (f) – Jay Chalke – Ombudsperson – Linda Kayfish – she’s wasn’t a participant – sister of Roderick MacIssac, an outsider, she’s fighting for his rights
Other Names You May Find Interesting (e):
Provincial Health Services Authority
Board Chair: Wynne Powell
President and Chief Executive Officer: Carl Roy
Board Chair: Wynne Powell
A/President and Chief Executive Officer: Dr. David Ostrow Dr. David Ostrow – was CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCHA) – see post “Auditor General’s report” – now a/president and CEO of Fraser Health Authority (things never change, just moved around) (see post “AUDITOR GENERAL – PARIS REPORT, May 24, 2010 and post “AUDITOR GENERAL, June 10, 2011)
Board Chair: Norman Embree
President and Chief Executive Officer: Dr. Robert Halpenny
Board Chair: Dr. Charles Jago
President and Chief Executive Officer: Cathy Ulrich
Board Chair: Kip Woodward
President and Chief Executive Officer: Mary Ackenhusen
Board Chair: Don Hubbard
President and Chief Executive Officer: Dr. Brendan Carr
Geoff Plant, former BC Liberal attorney general, now chair of Providence’s board of directors (and round and round they go)
How much did we pay these “people” to lie and/or know NOTHING:
* Margaret MacDermid said “It’s not clear at all to me and I don’t believe it’s clear to anyone as to why this happened.” (s)
(t) – Mike de Jong said about the situation: “”it’s disappointing, it’s troubling.” “One of the things I as health minister had endeavoured to promote is responsible access to the treasure trove of data we hold as a society with a PharmaCare program”;
(g) – Colin Hansen said, in March of 2012, “They’re being overly cautious, let’s put it that way. And the result of that is that the process is way too time-consuming and frustrating for those responsible researchers who want to get access.” and “sufficient safeguards are already in place to assure both the anonymity of records and to ensure they will only be released to responsible researchers”.
(r) – George Abbott said, regarding the firings, “I have no idea how something like that came to be,”
Margaret MacDiarmid and Terry Lake lied repeatedly about the non-existent RCMP investigation (see post “Our Information Is Not Protected – Part I)
- Fired health ministry employee ‘mystified’ by dismissal – Andrew MacLeod, 12 Sep 2012, The Hook
- The best place on Earth (for pharmaceutical companies) – Alan Cassels, Mar 2013, Online
- What We Know So Far about the Health Ministry Firings – Andrew MacLeod, 19 Dec 2014, TheTyee.ca
- BC Gov’t Hiding ‘Embarrassing’ Reports, FOI Advocate Says – Andrew MacLeod, 26 Jan 2015, TheTyee.ca
- British Columbia Health Authorities Webpage – 17 Mar 2015
- Emails Shed Light on Origins of Health Ministry Probe, Firings – Andrew MacLeod, 21 Oct 2014, TheTyee.ca **
- Key Health Ministry Advisor Was Surprised Firings Targeted Just ‘Low Level People’: Emails – Andrew MacLeod, 6 Nov 2014, TheTyee.ca **
- ‘I Thought I Was Doing a Good Job’: Fired Health Ministry Staffer, Andrew MacLeod, 12 Sept 2012, TheTyee.ca
- Sister of Fired Researcher Losing Faith in Government Probe – Andrew MacLeod, 5 Dec 2014, TheTyee.ca
- Fork over Full Health Firings Findings: Dix – Andrew MacLeod, 8 Jan 2015, TheTyee.ca
- BC Gov’t Faces Third Lawsuit over Health Ministry Firings – Andrew MacLeod, 12 Mar 2013, TheTyee.ca
- Fired Health Ministry Worker Found Dead – Andrew MacLeod, 10 Jan 2013, TheTyee.ca
- Research Stopped by Ministry Might Have Cut Big Pharma Profits – Andrew MacLeod, 8 Sept 2012, TheTyee.ca
- Premiers of British Columbia 1871 – today, British Columbia government website
- How many health ministers does it take to run B.C.’s medical system…? – Pamela Fayerman, 14 Mar 2011, Vancouver Sun (a paper I never buy)
- Independent inquiry urged into botched health ministry firings – Rob Show, 2 Jul 2015, Vancouver Sun
- Bill easing research access to ehealth data sparks privacy fears – Craig McInnes, 03 May 2012, Vancouver Sun
- George Abbott Quits Liberals He Sought to Lead – Andrew MacLeod, 30 Jun 2015, TheTyee.ca
- B.C. Health ministry says RCMP called to investigate conflict allegations – Dirk Meissner, 06 Nov 2012, The Canadian Press
- Health ministry fires fifth person in data, contract investigation – Andrew MacLeod, 13 Sep 2012, The Hook
**Alana James comments