B.C. ombudsman says health firings were wrong, wants to close ‘dark chapter’
VICTORIA — A former British Columbia health worker who took his own life after being caught up in a government drug policy investigation did nothing wrong and should never have lost his job, ombudsman Jay Chalke said in a report released Thursday.
He said in his report, called “Misfire,” that seven government health workers and a contract employee who were fired five years ago because of a flawed and rushed investigation did not deserve the personal, financial and professional harm they suffered.
Roderick MacIsaac, a co-op research student working at the Health Ministry, died by suicide about four months after being fired on the grounds he jeopardized the privacy of British Columbians and the reputation of the ministry.
“Mr. MacIsaac’s death was a tragedy that has cast a dark shadow over the entire affair,” Chalke told a news conference.