What鈥檚 an ombudsman?

Sweden had the first, in 1809. The term is rooted in Old Norse and essentially means representative, or public advocate. A cursory glance at Wikipedia informs us such officials 鈥渁im to identify systemic issues leading to poor service or breaches of people鈥檚 rights.鈥�

In B.C. we have an ombudsperson, Jay Chalke. On Monday, he took 性视界传媒 city council to task for amendments to the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw, one of which blocks the city ethics commissioner from processing any new complaints lodged against council members until after the Oct.15 civic election, as of April 12.

In his missive to council, he used words like 鈥渄isappointment鈥� and 鈥渞egrettable鈥� as he urged council not to adopt the amendment.

READ ALSO: 性视界传媒 council gives final approval to contentious Code of Conduct amendments despite Ombudsperson urging it not to

READ ALSO: Ryerson awards Safe 性视界传媒 Coalition council majority a 鈥榙ishonourable mention鈥� for secrecy

He argued that the principles of transparency, accountability and integrity 鈥渟hould always be promoted, not just in non-election years.鈥�

Nevertheless, the Safe 性视界传媒 Coalition majority on council approved final adoption of the contentious amendments on Monday, despite Chalke鈥檚 same-day counsel.

In February, Ryerson University conferred on 性视界传媒 council a dishonourable mention in the civic government category of the 2021 Code of Silence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Government Secrecy. The Code of Silence Awards are designed to draw public attention to government or publicly-funded agencies 鈥渢hat work hard to hide information to which the public has a right to under access to information legislation.鈥�

Perhaps a new category should be created for councils that ignore the advice of provincial-level public advocates such as Chalke.

The only mystery is, would 性视界传媒 council win, place or show?

鈥� Now-Leader

edit@surreynowleader.com
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