'Labour Minister' (Minister Responsible for WCB)

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The following are a total of 10 letters I’ve written and/or copied to Rob Norris, Minister Responsible for WCB. Included below is the 1 response I received from his office – 1 for 10... pretty good by SaskParty standards.

 

(Note: If you have difficulty reading these letters, click on them to enlarge)

 

 

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

 

Following a May 2012 cabinet shuffle, Don Morgan became Minister Responsible for WCB. Those interested in contacting him can do so at: minister.ae@gov.sk.ca

 
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As indicated on the homepage of this site, the first issue I raised with Labour Minister Rob Norris pertained to the corrupt manner in which WCB handled my work injury claim:

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Some 30 days later (and still no response to the above), I also requested the Minister’s attention to privacy violations on the part of WCB:  

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Again, there was no response from the Minister with respects to the above.

 

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It should be noted at this point that for nearly 3 months, the Board/Chair at WCB had refused to respond to my letters concerning WCB's  privacy violations. In an attempt to garner a response, the following email was sent to various Labour organisations, Unions, and Chambers of Commerce. Subsequently I copied this to the Board/Chair, as well as the Minister Responsible for WCB: 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Tom Brown

To: gmcrorie@lab.gov.sk.ca ; atrenker@lab.gov.sk.ca ; dparrott@lab.gov.sk.ca ; tmcmillan@lab.gov.sk.ca ; dbenoit@lab.gov.sk.ca ; jfleming@lab.gov.sk.ca ; ljennings@lab.gov.sk.ca ; hwhite@lab.gov.sk.ca ; mwilken@lab.gov.sk.ca ; dwallington@lab.gov.sk.ca ; eboese@lab.gov.sk.ca ; tmcsymytz@lab.gov.sk.ca ; ttomlinson@lab.gov.sk.ca ; jwendler@lab.gov.sk.ca

Cc: Wayne Dale (WCB Solicitor) ; Walter Eberle (Board Member) ; Peter Federko (WCB) ; Lorne Calvert (Opposition Leader) ; Karen Smith (Board Member) ; John Solomon (Board Member) ; Honourable Rob Norris (Minister of Labour) ; Honourable Brad Wall (Premier) ; Elaine Smith (Labour Minister's office) ; Garnet Garven (Deputy Minister to the Premier) ; Julie Benjamin (Garnet Garven's office)

Sent: Sunday, February 03, 2008 7:53 PM

Subject: Breach of Privacy (Att: SK Labour Standards)

 

Thomas Brown

1114-C Blackwood St. N.

Regina, SK. S4X 3E5

 

 

February 3, 2008

 

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

 

Re: Breach of Privacy

 

I am writing you in regards to serious privacy violations on the part of the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board. As this type of breach involves employers and employees alike, I believe it should be of concern to your administration.

 

As evidenced in a recent letter to the SK Privacy Commissioner (see link below), WCB’s Solicitor/Privacy Officer has unquestionably breached the privacy of several individuals, on 2 separate occasions. In both instances the personal financial information of several employees was disclosed to unauthorised third parties, as well as the corporate financial information of an employer/WCB stakeholder.

 

I have contacted the Minister Responsible for WCB/Labour regarding these privacy breaches, as well as the Board at WCB. Given these officials are mandated to uphold WCB legislation, I’ve insisted that charges be laid against WCB’s Solicitor/Privacy Officer pursuant to section 171 of The Workers’ Compensation Act, which states:

 

(1) Subject to sections 171.1 and 171.2, no officer of the board and no person authorized to make an inspection or inquiry under this Act shall divulge or allow to be divulged, except in the performance of his duties or under the authority of the board, any information obtained by him or that has come to his knowledge in connection with that inspection or inquiry.

(2) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than $1,000.

 

1979, c.W-17.1, s.171; 1984-85-86, c.89, s.29; 1993, c.63, s.46.

 

To date, the aforementioned officials have neither acknowledged, nor addressed this matter. Given the Board at WCB has been aware of this issue since mid November of last year, it would appear they do not intend to enforce this legislated law.

 

One has to question the rationale for such obvious privacy breaches, especially in light of the March 28, 2007 report of the SK Privacy Commissioner concerning this issue. One must also question whether this unlawful practice will continue. Those with answers to these questions evidently feel they are not accountable to individuals like myself. I believe they are answerable to administrations such as yours however, and upon your review of these circumstances, I encourage you to contact the officials listed below. 

 

In closing, you will find copies of all correspondences relating to this issue (including this one) posted on the Internet at:

 

http://tombrownskwcb.tripod.com/saskatchewanwcbbreachofprivacy/id5.html     

 

Thank you for any and all consideration you may give to this matter. Please know I would sincerely appreciate your thoughts and concerns regarding the same.

 

 

Respectfully, 

 

Thomas Brown 

 

 

Cc:       Mr. Peter Federko – CEO, Saskatchewan WCB 

             Tel: 787-7398

 

Mr. John Solomon – Chair, Saskatchewan WCB 

             Tel: 787-4379

 

            Mr. Walter Eberle – WCB Board Member (Employee Representative) 

             Tel: 787-4381

 

            Ms. Karen Smith – WCB Board Member (Employer Representative) 

             Tel: 787-4382

 

The Honourable Rob Norris – Minister Responsible for WCB/Labour 

Tel: 787-0341

 

            http://tombrownskwcb.tripod.com/saskatchewanwcbbreachofprivacy/id5.html

 

 

 

Just shy of 2 months from the date of my initial letter (Dec. 19/07), I finally received the following response from the Minister. Note: Not only did he refuse to inquire into my injury claim, he refused to address the issue of WCB's privacy violations (he simply referred me to the Board/Chair’s January 31, 2008 letter dismissing the matter): 

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Disgusted with the lack of action/response regarding WCB's contravention of section 171(1), the following email letter was sent to various Board/government officials:
 
 

----- Original Message -----

From: Tom Brown

To: Wayne Dale (WCB Solicitor) ; Walter Eberle (Board Member) ; Lorne Calvert (Opposition Leader) ; Karen Smith (Board Member) ; Julie Benjamin (Garnet Garven's office) ; John Solomon (Director/Chair WCB) ; Honourable Rob Norris (Minister of Labour) ; Honourable Don Morgan Q.C. (Minister of Justice/Attorney General) ; Honourable Brad Wall (Premier) ; Garnet Garven (Deputy Minister to the Premier) ; Elaine Smith (Labour Minister's office) ; Peter Federko (CEO - WCB)

Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 5:43 PM

Subject: Re: Sections 171(1) and 171(2) of the WCA

 

 

 

Thomas Brown

1114-C Blackwood St. N.

Regina, SK. S4X 3E5

 

 

February 20, 2008

 

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

 

Re: Sections 171(1) and 171(2) of The Workers’ Compensation Act, 1979 (WCA)

 

The following is further to the issue of WCB’s unauthorized disclosure of employer/employee information, as it pertains to above legislation.

 

Given I have taken the necessary steps to have this issue remedied, and appropriate action has not been taken by the WCB Solicitor, the Board/Chair at WCB, and the Minister Responsible for WCB; the way is now clear for me to request a criminal investigation into this matter. With respects to the WCB Solicitor, I am now also at liberty to file a formal complaint with The Law Society of Saskatchewan.

 

In the days to come I’ll be preparing a written statement regarding this issue, which will be filed with both the RCMP, and The Law Society of Saskatchewan. This statement will show that the aforementioned officials have disregarded their mandated duty to adhere to, and/or uphold WCB legislation/law (i.e. sections 171(1) and 171(2) of the WCA). Furthermore it will show that the Board/Chair at WCB have neglected their “Duty to Protect Confidential Information”, as specified in their Governance Policy. It is my understanding that such a policy is the result of a Board decision, which carries the same weight as a Court of Queen's Bench decision. 

 

Interested parties will find all relevant information concerning this issue at:

 

http://tombrownskwcb.tripod.com/saskatchewanwcbbreachofprivacy/id5.html

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Tom Brown

 

 

As one might expect, there was no response from the Minister regarding the above.

 

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By letter dated April 1, 2008 (below), I wrote the Premier regarding his government’s handling of this issue (or rather lack thereof). As this involved the Minister Responsible for WCB, I copied it to his attention:

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Neither the Minister, nor the Premier responded to the above.

 

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As indicated in the only response received to date (Feb. 14/08 - above), the Minister claimed “There are no provisions in the Act that would permit the Minister to initiate an inquiry or review of the decisions made on a claim.” When I learned there is in fact legislation giving him this authority, I wrote him with the following:

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Within a few days of sending the above, I received a phone call the Minister's assistant requesting further clarification of my letter. Despite the assistant's assurance that a written response would be forthcoming, I've received nothing to date.

 

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Below is 1 of 3 identical letters sent to the Board at WCB regarding the unlawful disclosure of their (my co-worker’s) personal information. By fax dated April 28, 2008, I forwarded these letters to the Minister requesting his immediate attention to them:

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Neither the Minister, nor the Board responded to the above.
 
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As indicated on the homepage of this site, on May 6th, 2008 I attended the WCB “Annual General Meeting” in Regina. During the Q & A portion of this stakeholder event, I raised the issue of WCB's privacy violations with Chairman David Eberle. As per his suggestion, I wrote to arrange a private meeting with Mr. Eberle and CEO Peter Federko in this respect. SubsequentIy I copied this letter to the Minister, asking that he assist in ensuring such a meeting took place:

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While I received nothing by way of an acknowledgement/response from the Minister, click here to review the Chairman's denial of my request.
 
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In a last ditch effort to obtain a response from the Minister regarding these matters, I once again wrote him with the following:

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Once again there was no response from either the Minister, or the Premier.
 
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Below is the last correspondence sent to the Premier, which simply advised him of this website. As the Minister Responsible for WCB was instrumental in the development of this site, it was also copied to his attention. I did not request a response from either the Minister or the Premier, nor do I expect one.

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UPDATE:

 

By email letter dated January 28th, 2009, I contacted 53 MLA’s regarding my difficulties obtaining a response to my concerns (click here to view). This resulted in a number of inquiries on my behalf, which in turn provoked a response from the Premier. Subsequently my concerns were forwarded to Minister Norris who responded with the following:

 

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Given this letter is essentially a carbon copy of his February 14th, 2008 response (above), a response I’ve repeatedly taken issue with over the past year, I once again wrote Minister Norris with the following:

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In an attempt to garner a response to the above, I once again wrote the Members of the Legislative Assembly on March 5, 2009 (click here to view). To date, this has yet to yield a response from Minister Norris.

 

Care to comment on this ministry's handling of these issues? As indicated at the top of this page, the Honourable Don Morgan is now Minister Responsible for WCB. You can email him at: minister.ae@gov.sk.ca

 

 

 

All My Websites:

 

“WCB: Your Right To Sue” – Click here

 

Saskatchewan WCB Breach Of Privacy” – Click here 

 

“The Saskatchewan Party: Broken Promises & Cover-ups” – Click here 

 

"Appealing the Saskatchewan Workers Compensation Board" – Click here 

 

 

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