Okay.
Evidence of meeting #39 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was process.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #39 for Veterans Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was process.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Yes.
I have a question for you, David, if it's okay.
I found it disturbing when you mentioned how the set-up goes for getting a doctor, in that it's basically the RCMP who is the client and the member is left out of the loop, so to speak, in making that connection. That's if I correctly understood what you said.
Officer, Retired Members Alliance, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
That's correct. Once the force gets involved, they become the client. They direct and they pay the fees, so the doctor is obligated to pay back to them. They take your information and forward it back, and it goes back to your medical file. The issue with that—
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Just so I understand, is this a physician you're talking about, or a mental health provider, or any kind of...?
Officer, Retired Members Alliance, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
I'm talking about any physician.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Okay. You referred to the college. Do you mean the College of Physicians and Surgeons? Have there been incidents of a complaint being made that this was not in keeping with the professional responsibilities of the physician?
Officer, Retired Members Alliance, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
What they tried to do was control a doctor. The doctor had come to them and said that the issue of problems with PTSD and the anxiety disorders and everything else was not really with the members; they were okay. The issue was the workplace. The workplace was sick and needed some help.
The force was not happy with that reply, so they went after this doctor, Dr. Michael Webster. They gathered all the members' information, started doing all kinds of different things on collecting that information, and ended up taking the members' personal files and forwarding them to the college and sharing them amongst the members. It was unknown to the members themselves what was being shared until later on, when we found our full files were disclosed, including names.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Have there been members who have made complaints to the college about the professional responsibility of physicians under this scheme?
Officer, Retired Members Alliance, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
Yes.
January 30th, 2017 / 4:55 p.m.
Officer, Retired Members Alliance, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
The result is that the RCMP is too big, and no one wants to take them on.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Have there actually been reported decisions by the college on these sorts of things?
Officer, Retired Members Alliance, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
They've looked at them and said it's fine, and that was it. They won't deal with the issues.
It's very difficult to do anything, whether you do a privacy information...to lay a charge, or anything to deal with that, particularly in British Columbia. I've had experience in all of that. You just can't do it.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Do you have any documentation back from the College of Physicians and Surgeons saying that they're too big to deal with?
Officer, Retired Members Alliance, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
We have the entire file, and it's now before the courts in British Columbia under breach of privacy. We've also involved the federal Privacy Commissioner, who gave us a decision. I believe Mr. Banwarie is providing that information to you.
President, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
It's included in the brief.
President, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
It's the full, entire investigation. There were approximately 30 members or more affected in that case in which all the medical information was gone through. It was well founded, a serious privacy breach, because of the type of information—
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
But it's before the courts now, so that hasn't been determined by the court yet.
President, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
Well, the members have no choice. It has to go to the courts.
Employment, Human Rights and Labour Lawyer, Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada
Well, no; it has been decided. It went to the federal Privacy Commissioner. The federal Privacy Commissioner upheld the complaint and found that there was a fundamental breach of privacy. The breach was that the members' psychological health information was not only shared with the college but was also shared with the administrative chain of command up to the commissioner, who ultimately approved filing the complaint against Dr. Webster.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
Thanks very much. I look forward to reading that in the brief.
My friend will finish the time.
