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André Marin (born January 12, 1965) is a Canadian lawyer and Ombudsman. He was appointed as Ombudsman of Ontario by the Ontario Legislative Assembly on April 1, 2005 and was reappointed on June 1, 2010 to a second five-year term. Before 2005, he was the first Ombudsman for the Canadian Armed Forces and Director of the Ontario Special Investigations Unit.

Early career

After graduating with civil and common law degrees from the University of Ottawa's National Program, Marin worked as an assistant Crown attorney and part-time professor of law in Ottawa, Canada until 1996.

From September 1996 to June 1998, he was Director of Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Canada’s only independent civilian agency for investigating incidents in which police officers have caused serious injury or death.

In June 1998, Marin became Canada’s first military Ombudsman, responsible for the investigation of complaints from members of the Canadian forces. He created the “Special Ombudsman Response Team” (SORT) for investigating broad systemic issues, such as post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers, compensation for the families of soldiers who are killed or wounded, and chemical agent testing during World War II.

The 2006 workplace assessment conducted by the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) in the wake of Marin’s seven-year tenure found that he left a dysfunctional workplace, rife with complaints and 150 staff departures.46 Staff were interviewed who described a similar culture of fear, harassment, arbitrary work practices as methods of control and a neutered human resources department, as Ontario Ombudsman staff described. The report found that Marin’s bad human resources practices and “adversarial investigations” may have actually to” inefficiency in the organization.” On Marin’s departure, the report stated that staff expressed “overwhelming relief . . . to see the new leadership take its place.” In 2010, upon learning of the DND’s negative report on Marin’s tenure as the Canadian Military Ombudsman, Marin’s predecessor as Ontario Ombudsman, Clare Lewis, commented that he would not have supported Marin’s appointment. On Marin’s departure, the report stated that staff expressed “overwhelming relief . . . to see the new leadership take its place.” In 2010, upon learning of the DND’s negative report on Marin’s tenure as the Canadian Military Ombudsman, Marin’s predecessor as Ontario Ombudsman, Clare Lewis, commented that he would not have supported Marin’s appointment.

Controversies Under Marin's Mandate As Ontario Ombudsman

As Ontario's Ombudsman, Andre Marin, has been the subject of a number of public controversies during his tenure. These have ranged from his high-profile investigations to his management style, his office expenses and use of Twitter. In 2010, Toronto Star (the Star) reporters David Bruser and Moira Welsh investigated human rights and labour complaints by Ombudsman staff under Marin’s tenure and his awarding of contracts to law professor and now Ontario Court Justice, David Paciocco.

Human Rights and Labour Complaints

In late May 2010, the Toronto Star published a series of articles based on interviews of at least 10 past and present Ombudsman employees who alleged that Marin instituted a “culture of fear” in the workplace upon taking over as Ontario Ombudsman. It also reported some employees had filed complaints with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal(OHRT). Employees alleged systematic bullying, harassment and in some cases, racism. Some also alleged there were bizarre rules prohibiting them from using the hallway in front of Marin's office, speaking to Marin unless spoken to first, and displaying personal photos in their workspaces. Despite the nature of the complaints against Marin's office, equity and labour, Andrea Horwath and the Ontario New Democrats have remained staunch supporters of Marin's mandate and management style.

By 2010, the Ombudsman’s office, a fairness office that reports directly to the Ontario Legislature, had five simultaneous and active complaints against it filed by employees with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal(OHRT). Marin was named in at least one complaint by his former human resources manager, which was dismissed in August 2010. The tribunal has not made any findings against the Ombudsman's office as several are still before the OHRT.

The sources quoted by the Star estimated that at least 10 former employees have been “bought out” and “gagged” from speaking about their negative experiences and received payments from Marin’s office. The Star also reported that the employees' union retained a labour investigator, but noted neither she nor the union would comment on whether an investigation was conducted. On June 3, 2010, the Star reported that a report done after Marin left his post as Ombudsman for the Canadian Forces in 2005 found that he left a dysfunctional workplace in his wake, rife with complaints and 150 staff departures.

"Slave Auction" Poster

In 2012, another OHRT complaint was filed by the former front desk receptionist, who is black and of Haitian/African-Canadian descent. She alleged racial discrimination and a methodical pattern of harassment and intimidation, culminating in two main events. She claimed that in 2010, a white manager, knowing she had concerns for family in Haiti following the 2010 Haiti earthquake, purposefully made hurtful and untrue comments intended to harass her based on her ethnic origin, by saying he was planning a cruise with a “pit stop in Haiti … but not where all that cholera stuff is going on.” The Tribunal dismissed this claim in November 2013, stating that a "mere statement that one is not going to the parts of Haiti where there is cholera raises no connection to a (Human Rights) Code ground."

The second allegation surrounded a poster that was e-mailed to all Ombudsman employees and also physically placed around the office, including the reception desk where the employee worked, about a "silent auction" charity event. It included a cartoon of a group of white men waiving paper money, accompanied by a poem that included the suggestion that staff could auction themselves as a “slave for a day” to raise money for charity. The poster was created by the employees’ social committee, which was entirely white and included a member of the Ombudsman's senior management team, senior legal counsel Wendy Ray, who has been personally named in a number of human rights and discrimination cases against the office. Following complaints from other black employees, the poster was revised and “slave for a day” was replaced with “gofer for a day.” The employee complained that despite this, a copy of the original offending poster was left on her desk, and that the author of the poem later escalated the situation by sending an email that said, in part: "why anyone would take offense is BEYOND ME and if you can’t see that, then you clearly have ISSUES (…) And if this email makes you even more mad and offended, TOO BAD!!!! At the OHRT, the ex-employee and author of the email claimed that it involved a completely unrelated dispute among social committee members. The complainant alleged these incidents were part of a continuing pattern of systemic discrimination she had been subjected to while employed at the Ontario Ombudsman. She also alleged that as result of her complaint, she was subjected to serious reprisals by management and eventually forced out of her job.

David Paciocco Contracts

In June and July 2010, the Toronto Star published two articles reporting that that over his 12 years as the Ontario Ombudsman and Ombudsman for the Canadian Military, Marin awarded consulting contracts worth almost a quarter of a million dollars to Ottawa law professor David Paciocco. At the time, Marin’s salary was at $215,000. The articles cited federal documents showing $84,000 was paid to Paciocco between 2001 and 2005 and $141,000 after 2005. The Star described Paciocco as Marin's "good friend" (although Marin's office said they had no personal relationship) and cited unnamed sources alleging that Paciocco was hired to "spice up" Marin's reports (while Marin's office said he was hired for his legal expertise, for which tendering is not required). The Star quoted comments that Paciocco made about Marin in a speech at a public dinner the previous year:

I have known him since he was a boy’s head sticking out of a man’s suit. I have known and worked with André Marin for more some 20 years - which happens to be his entire professional career... I like to think that Andre fancied me as something of his mentor.

As a result of the Star article series, Marin and Paciocco made the first Ontario Press Council challenge to the “permissible limits of investigative journalism” in its 38-year history. They disputed many of the allegations from the Star's unnamed sources and argued that the articles were unbalanced. In its January 2011 decision, the Press Council upheld Paciocco's complaint and aspects of Marin's, requiring the Star to publish this fact on its website. The council noted that it was not in a position to determine whether or not the facts in the articles were correct, although it found no obvious factual errors in the stories. However, it stated that the articles gave "greater prominence to the allegations against Mr. Marin than to his denials," and that "the vague assertions by an anonymous source, the excerpts from a speech given by Mr. Paciocco and the results of the Star’s subsequent investigation into the fees paid to Mr. Paciocco do not justify the derogatory inferences that the two stories contain." The Council also stated:

...that while the articles, on balance, gave greater prominence to the allegations against Marin than to the denials, there were no obvious factual errors contained in the stories and that “no aspect of the complainant’s defense went unreported.

Ombudsman Expenses

In 2010, the Office's expenses came under public scrutiny. It was revealed that in 2006, Marin billed taxpayers for his personal grooming products, including a $38 toothbrush. Marin noted that he and his staff had just moved to new premises in Toronto and he was stocking up his office washroom. He also purchased a $2,000 flat screen TV for his Ottawa home, saying it was to watch Queen's Park’s Question Period whenever he was at home in Ottawa; he noted that the television belongs to the Ombudsman’s office and will be returned once he is no longer in the job. Marin works at home in Ottawa every other week, a deal that was part of his contract. Marin did not say how much time he spent in Ottawa versus Toronto. Marin argued he in fact saved taxpayers money by moving to Toronto—where the Ombudsman's office is located, presumably, rather than moving the Ombudsman's office to Ottawa, where Marin lived. Another report alleged Marin’s Director of Corporate Services, who’s salary was $142,000 at the time, was made to pick-up Marin’s dry cleaning and monitor Marin’s maid when she cleaned his Toronto condo; Marin’s office denied the allegations and said that the executive’s job included visiting Marin’s condo to watch over the property but did not include dry cleaning pickup.. Marin publicly expressed frustration that his expense records were publicly disclosed and suggested he may have been too trusting with former employees who were forced to resign. He suggested they should have been “frisked ...on their way out.” Marin went on to claim that the criticism of his expenses was akin to a witch hunt reminiscent of the anti-communist "McCarthyism.”

New Democratic Party House Leader Peter Kormos lodged a formal complaint with the Speaker accusing the government of intervening in a non-partisan search process and of launching "scurrilous, malicious" attacks against Marin while then-opposition leader Tim Hudak urged then-Premier Dalton McGuinty to apologize to Marin for “one of the dirtiest whisper campaigns in memory”. Opposition parties dubbed it a “malicious” smear campaign against Marin, and McGuinty noted it was getting “a little out of hand.”

During his first five-year mandate, 2005-2010, the Ombudsman's Office had an estimated 70 employees leave the Ontario Ombudsman's office, an office of 85 employees, costing Ontario taxpayers approximately $780,000.

In 2015, the government adopted a new process for all legislative watchdog appointments that will include an open competition. Liberal House leader Yasir Naqvi was reported as saying there is no agenda against Marin “this time”, which, the Toronto Star noted, “was not the case in 2010.”

Durham Police Dispute

On August 8, 2013, the Ombudsman’s Office announced an investigation into how the provincial government directs police to deal with de-escalating crisis situations, in the wake of the police shooting death of 18-year-old Sammy Yatim on a Toronto streetcar.

Before the 11 a.m. press conference, Marin was tweeted at multiple times by a Twitter user whose bio said “only goal in life: expose Andre Marin for the leach on society he is”. The user, @JoeyMayo12 (account since deleted), tweeted: “@Ont_Ombudsman is a carded member of Al Qaida” and “@Ont_Ombudsman YOU SIR ARE A COMPLETE DOUCHE BAG! Why don’t you stick your big french nose up your ass instead of business it doesnt belong”. Marin tweeted that the account was linked to the name and badge number of an officer with the Durham Regional Police Service, whom he identified publicly.

Marin responded by wrongly accusing a 12-year respected veteran of the Durham Region police force. First Marin publicly identified “Dennis Scott,” then later changed the name to Det.–Constable Scott Dennis of being "Joe Mayo." Marin used the official Ontario Ombudsman Twitter account to publicly accuse the Scott and to disclose his police force, badge number and his salary. Dennis’s personal information was widely reported in the media based on Marin’s information. Dennis, described as an “outstanding officer” by his superiors, began to receiving insulting and harassing emails from the public as a result of Marin’s mistake. Marin publicly boasted that his (Ontario Ombudsman) staff had identified the (wrong) name and badge number behind the account "within minutes." Marin’s office has no jurisdiction over police forces and Marin refused to explain how he was able to so quickly get the information on Denis that he did. Initially, Marin refused to apologize to the Dennis, publicly stating that he saw no need for an apology "at this time." Marin went on to complain that it was unfair that the Durham police were quick to ask him to apologize to Dennis but not for an apology for Marin: “What about an apology for being the victim of hate mail by one of his finest." Marin apologized after Dennis’ lawyer publicly stated they were considering legal action against Marin and the Ontario Ombudsman’s office. After his apology, Marin then entered into a public spat with Durham Police Chief Mike Ewels. despite Marin's mistaken investigation, he began to criticizing Ewels's leadership and investigative abilities:

I was never impressed by how the investigation was conducted... The investigators got their marching orders on this from their chief. It was all part of the old boys’ club. As a result, they low-balled the investigation right from the beginning. Police stations are not expected to be run like National Lampoon’s Animal House.

Marin’s attempts to discredit Chief Ewels drew heavy criticism from senior police officers in Ontario:

First and foremost, the ombudsman is a public official whose job it is to be objective and conduct objective, independent investigation of whatever matters he’s in charge with, acting on the evidence before him.

His behaviour is unacceptable, particularly coming from someone holding such a high position of public trust and authority. Mr. Marin, of all people, knows there is a process in filing complaints for investigation. If he had a concern, he should have followed that process. Instead, he publicly maligned an innocent person.

On Marin’s claim that he was a victim of being “duped” by Joe Mayo” just like Dennis was, Dennis’ lawyer stated:

Only one person was ‘duped’ in this matter, and that would appear to be, by his own admission... client was not duped. He was publicly exposed, unnecessarily, by the Ombudsman and held up to public contempt and attacks. The last few weeks have been “extremely difficult” for Dennis.

Durham police’s professional standards branch investigated and determined that another officer, Detective Jeff Caplan from the force’s major fraud unit, actually created the account, impersonating his colleague. Caplan pleaded guilty to charges of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act and was demoted for nine months after a hearing in December 2013. He was also ordered to undergo training on workplace harassment. Caplan apologized to his colleague and Marin in September 2013. The Ombudsman met with him in person and accepted Caplan's apology. However, Marin expressed outraged that Caplan was not criminally charged and blamed Chief Ewels.

The lawyer for the wrongly accused said “Dennis’s life was turned upside down after he was erroneously identified as the source of a Twitter tirade against Marin.”

Sudbury City Council

In December 2012, Marin attended a Sudbury city council meeting about whether to keep the Ontario Ombudsman as the city's oversight office or appoint someone of their own. Some councilors complained about “a lot of drama out of the Ombudsman's office" and “his sarcastic attitude”. Councillors reported that Marin acted aggressively, speaking over and pointing at them. Following Council's vote to replace him, Marin publicly stated that he feared the decision was motivated by "retaliation."

Ontario Auditor General, Bonnie Lysyk

In November 2014, the Ontario Legislature debated Bill 8, which would expand the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction into areas of financial review, currently overseen by various auditor-generals. The Auditor General of Ontario, Bonnie Lysyk, said at the legislature’s committee hearings that the bill would result in a duplication of services. She said the Ombudsman’s office has a complaints-based focus, while the financial operations of organizations and branches of government are more the domain of the auditor-general.

An Office of the Ontario Ombudsman web account targetted Lysyk and the Auditor-General of Ottawa, Ken Hughes' stating it was an “attack” on the bill and “astoundingly inept”. Marin then sent her a five-page letter accusing Lysyk of “blindsiding” him and warning that she was proposing a “perilous and massive step backward in terms of accountability and transparency for the citizens of Ontario.” He criticized the move and patronized her stating had she asked beforehand, he “would have been able to educate you about the legislative history of the Ombudsman Act, how ombudsmen balance individual and systemic investigations, and the context behind the Bill 8 amendments as they relate to my Office.”

Toronto Ombudsman, Fiona Crean

After testifying similar concerns about the duplication of services Bill 8 would create, Fiona Crean, the City of Toronto’s Ombudsman, was publicly targetted from an Ontario Ombudsman account stating: “Your apocalyptic, doomsday scenarios are big on fantasy & light on reality” and referred to her as "Chicken Little". Marin denied that his words were an attack, rather characterizing them as “advocacy.”

University of Western professors, Andrew Sancton and Erika Simpson

In December, 2014, Marin blocked Western University political science professor Andrew Sancton from the official Ontario Ombudsman Twitter feed for three days after the professor tweeted criticism of Bill 8. The Bill gives the Ombudsman the authority to investigate “closed meetings” of city councillors in interests of transparency. Sancton disliked that the term “meeting” is not defined in legislation, but Marin, who is not an elected legislator, created his own unauthorized definition. He said he was "outraged" at being blocked. Marin also tweeted that Sancton belonged to “the Mad Men generation,” in reference to being from the 1960s.

Fellow Western political science professor and former university ombudsman, Erika Simpson, said Marin’s behaviour was in conflict with the office's duty to be an “independent, impartial and confidential mediator:” “public officials should not be able to block members of the public from reading their tweets. Marin’s electronic media postings, written under his authority as the ombudsman, should be open, transparent and subject to public scrutiny.” Marin noted that Sancton could still read his tweets on the Ombudsman's official website.

Marin said blocking people from Twitter is important “for dealing with the vicious anonymous trolls who spend their days attacking public figures and their followers (including mine) with vile, bigoted and bullying tweets.”

Hamilton City Integrity Commissioner, Earl Basse

In February 2015, Marin publicly criticized a report by Hamilton City Hall Integrity Commissioner Earl Basse, about a journalist pushed by a councillor at Hamilton City Hall. Marin said the report lacked "evidence analysis" and said he would use it as "a model of how not to write a report".

References

1. Canadian Who’s Who 2011. Orillia, Ontario: Third Sector Publishing. 2011. p. 792. ISBN 978-0-921173-27-4.
2. Hyson, Stewart, ed. (2009). Provincial and Territorial Ombudsman Offices in Canada. University of Toronto Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-4426-4067-2.
3. See the University of Ottawa's website, which lists Marin's degrees. http://www.droitcivil.uottawa.ca/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2303&lang=fr
4. Website of the Ontario Special Investigations Unit. http://www.siu.on.ca/en/index.php
5. See, for example, reports "The Way Forward" and "Systemic Treatment of CF Members with PTSD": http://www.ombudsman.forces.gc.ca/rep-rap/sr-rs/index-eng.asp
6. ^ Bruser, David; Welsh, Moira (June 2, 2010). "André Marin left dysfunction and discontent as military ombud". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2015-03-06. Retrieved February 28, 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
7. Ferguson, Rob (February 25, 2014). "Ombudsman André Marin, other watchdogs must reapply when contracts expire". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 2015-03-07. Retrieved February 27, 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

• Ombudsman Ontario

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