Veterans’ advocate Sean Bruyea called the payments “to senior managers at Veterans Affairs Canada way out of whack with reality.”
Photograph by: CHRIS WATTIE, REUTERS
By David Pugliese, The Ottawa Citizen May 25, 2012 6:59 PM
OTTAWA — The senior managers at Veterans Affairs Canada received almost $700,000 in bonuses and extra pay last…
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press Online Posted: 02/16/2012 4:21 PM
OTTAWA – 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…
Just when Ottawa bureaucrats and politicians thought they would have a quiet week following unsuccessful attempts to placate stakeholders in an Ottawa conference room this week (click here for article), all of Hades breaks loose. One conscientious Canadian reader was supportive of my latest piece (click here) . If only Ottawa was as supportive of…
by Murray Brewster- THE CANADIAN PRESS-2012/02/12
OTTAWA – A prominent, long-standing member of the country’s Veterans Review and Appeal Board had his privacy violated twice in an alleged smear campaign meant to discredit him using his private medical information as ammunition, The Canadian Press has learned.
The behind-the-scenes fight involving Harold Leduc…
by John Larlee (VRAB CHAIR)-THE HILL TIMES-January 30, 2012.
Re: “Just one more reason for a commission of inquiry into veterans’ issues,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 23, p. 10, by Sean Bruyea. In his column, Mr. Bruyea presents his opinions about the Veterans Review and Appeal Board (VRAB) and the administrative law process….
Our democratic building can withstand removing the bureaucratic and political façade which fails to cultivate trust through collaboration, coordination and cooperation.
Photograph by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Power and Parliament: Should we care that we have lost substantial faith and much trust in Ottawa and its institutions, asks government accountability advocate Sean…
The reality is that the senior mandarins are the ultimate arbiters of power in Ottawa, not the politicians. And the oft-criticized hyper-centralized culture is centered not in the PMO but in Treasury Board and the PCO.
By Sean Bruyea
The Hill Times: Published September 19, 2011
OTTAWA—We …
By Jessuca Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-Published August 22, 2011
Today’s vets more educated, know their rights, and need more flexible service than in past generations.
Veterans Affairs needs to start innovating if it’s going to serve the wave of veterans coming home from Afghanistan with a host of needs unique to their generation, says veterans advocate Michel…
Veterans Affairs is trying to slip under the summer radar a sleight-of-hand approval for regulations on injured soldiers’ benefits. We should not be surprised.
By Sean Bruyea
The Hill Times: Published July 18, 2011
OTTAWA—Just as the sun will rise and we all will one day die, Veterans Affair Canada can always be counted upon to pull…
By SEAN BRUYEA-THE GLOBE AND MAIL-Last updated Wednesday, Jun. 08, 2011 3:51PM EDT
Sean Bruyea (REUTERS)
For the first time in decades, a federal election witnessed all parties promising assistance for our serving and retired Canadian Forces personnel. Debate on the issue quickly died, but the problems confronting our veterans remain painfully alive.
Those problems escalated in 2006…
With a majority Government, CJFE says it’s time for Prime Minister Harper to keep his promises to reform the Access to Information system
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression-CNW-May 9, 2011.
TORONTO, May 9 /CNW/ – For the second year in a row, the Harper government has received a failing grade from Canadian Journalists for…
By Sean Bruyea-THE HILL TIMES-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…
By David Hutton-THE HILL TIMES-March 21, 2011.
Photograph by Jessica Bruno, The Hill Times
In the spotlight: Former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet, pictured at the House Public Accounts Committee on March 10 on the Hill.
Former integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet’s testimony to the House Public Accounts Committee seemed to be all…
By Ian Bron, Allan Cutler-THE HILL TIMES-March 21, 2011.
When Christiane Ouimet was appointed as the first integrity commissioner in 2007 there was no reason to think anything but the best: her long service in the bureaucracy seemed free of blemishes, and she had experience in investigations and training in law
When…
By Jessica Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-March 21, 2011.
The gag order on former public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet’s $500,000 exit deal with the government is the most concerning part of the arrangement, says prominent lawyer Paul Champ.
“If this was a private sector settlement then that would make sense, but we’re dealing with…
By Jessica Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-March 14, 2011.
Former disgraced public sector integrity commissioner Christiane Ouimet, who defiantly refuted Auditor General Sheila Fraser’s scathing report last week of her office and her conduct on Parliament Hill, may get the chance to tell her side of the story again when she’s called before the…
By Jessica Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-January 17, 2011.
Photograph by Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Tricks of the trade: Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Stoddart, ‘You have to reassure employees on two things: of the integrity of the mandate about having a healthy working environment, and that’s respectful of its employees.’
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart,…
By Ken Rubin-THE HILL TIMES-December 6 2010.
OTTAWA—Ottawa under the Harper government operates with the principle that only a few insiders need to know what’s really going on. This results in tightly-controlled spin on what is said and makes a mockery of public access.
For example, more than 900 Army personnel are to…
By Perry Gray-THE HILL TIMES-November 15, 2010.
Cynthian Münster, The Hill Times
Time for a royal commission: Perry Gray is a retired Canadian Forces intelligence officer and a chief editor of veterans.info.
OTTAWA—Considering the national outcry against the so-called “New Veterans Charter” and the lump sum these past few months, it is interesting to note…
By David Hutton, Allan Cutler, and Duff Conacher-THE HILL TIMES-November 1, 2010.
The following is letter sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff, NDP Leader Jack Layton, and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe last week.
It is ironic that, even while we were preparing this letter to you, calling for (among…
By Tim Naumetz-THE HILL TIMES-October 25, 2010
The federal government appears ready to settle a $400,000 lawsuit by veterans advocate Sean Bruyea after Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart’s ruling that the Veterans Affairs Department contravened the Privacy Act by circulating his confidential personal information and medical files.
Mr. Bruyea’s lawyer would say only that…
By Jessica Bruno-THE HILL TIMES-October 25, 2010
Christiane Ouimet, Canada’s first federal public sector integrity commissioner, who resigned last week as her office is being investigated by Auditor General Sheila Fraser, will be called before the House Government Operations Committee to explain the situation surrounding her departure.
“The committee agreed that we should…
By Ian Bron-THE HILL TIMES-October 18, 2010
Jake Wright, The Hill Times
Whistleblower: Sean Bruyea, pictured on the Hill.
OTTAWA—For the past few months the media have been making revelation after revelation about the management of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The first issue to hit the headlines dealt with the misrepresentation of the…
By Jack Granatstein-THE HILL TIMES-October 18, 2010
The Department of Veterans Affairs has a proud record. Founded in 1944 to care for and reintegrate into civil society the more than one million men and women who served in the Canadian Armed Forces in the Second World War, DVA was an ornament of …
By Tim Naumetz-THE HILL TIMES-October 18, 2010
Quebec Liberal Senator Romeo Dallaire says injured Canadian war veterans distrust the Veterans Affairs Department to the point some would rather continue on in the Army as disabled personnel rather than risk an uncertain future dealing with the department’s now-famous bureaucracy.
Sen. Dallaire, perhaps Canada’s best-known…
Only a non-partisan public inquiry will fix this profoundly flawed department. A judicial royal commission would guide Canada to re-establish its commitment to injured military, veterans, and their families.
By SEAN BRUYEA |
Published: Monday, 10/18/2010 12:00 am EDT
Veterans and all Canadians are grappling with revelations that federal bureaucrats have repeatedly and…
By Jeff Rose-Martland-THE HILL TIMES-October 18 2010
Amidst revelations of privacy breaches in Veterans Affairs, there is one question no one in government is asking: why?
We know that several veterans had their medical details spread around VA to people without legitimate need to know. We know that the targets of these breeches—Sean Bruyea, Pat…
By Michael L. Blais-THE HILL TIMES-October 11, 2010
NIAGARA FALLS, ONT.—The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity on the veterans’ front. Nationally, veterans continue to rally in defence of Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran, and the serious concerns he has identified.
Revelations pertaining to repeated VAC violations of retired captain Sean…
By TIM NAUMETZ-THE HILL TIMES-October 11, 2010
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart says she is concerned other federal departments may be gathering and circulating personal information about critics of the government in the same way the Veterans Affairs Department improperly gave a Cabinet minister medical files about Gulf War veteran Sean Bruyea when he tried to expose…
Editorial-THE HILL TIMES-October 11, 2010
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart announced last week that she’s launching a wide-ranging audit of Veterans Affairs Canada after her office found the privacy rights of former Gulf War veteran Sean Bruyea had been seriously breached.
“What we found in this case was alarming,” Ms. Stoddart said in…
Click here for legal claim link (PDF)
Editorial-THE HILL TIMES-October 4, 2010
The Hill Times’ Tim Naumetz last week broke the story that Canada’s Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran is under treatment for operational stress injury that dates back to the 1990s and to his time in Bosnia and that he fears Veterans Affairs Canada may have improperly shared his personal medical files and…
by Sean Bruyea-VICTORIA TIMES-COLONIST-September 28, 2010 p. A.12
Canadians learned last week that federal bureaucrats at Veterans Affairs Canada freely offered extensive amounts of my confidential medical and financial information to federal cabinet ministers without my permission.
And at least 850 federal employees, political staffers and politicians exchanged or accessed the most intimate…
By Sean Bruyea, Ottawa Citizen Special-September 25, 2010 10:28 AM
This past week, Canadians learned that federal bureaucrats at Veterans Affairs Canada freely offered up extensive amounts of my confidential medical and financial information to federal cabinet ministers without my permission. And at least 850 federal employees, political staffers and politicians exchanged and/or accessed the most intimate…
By: Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press Posted: 21/09/2010 5:12 PM
OTTAWA – Confidential medical and financial information belonging to an outspoken critic of Veterans Affairs, including part of a psychiatrist’s report, found its way into the briefing notes of a cabinet minister.
Highly personal information about Sean Bruyea was contained in a 13-page briefing note prepared by…