beans_mom
01-16-2004, 11:35 AM
Friday, January 16, 2004
B.C. MP alleges prison cover-up
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, OTTAWA BUREAU
http://www.canoe.ca/CalgaryNews/cs.cs-01-16-0050.html
OTTAWA -- The federal government is trying to hide what's likely a "major screw-up" with a secret $740,000 payout by Corrections Canada, according to an Opposition MP.
The hefty sum was listed in the government's 2002 public accounts as "compensation for the murder by an offender."
Citing personal privacy protection, the Correctional Service of Canada has rejected a Sun Media request for details of the legal settlement under the Access to Information Act.
"It will be someone that they screwed up on, who they let out and then they committed another crime," said Randy White, a British Columbia MP.
"It's a pay-off to keep quiet is what it is. The victims have hollered and threatened suit and taken it close to court time."
A lawyer for Lauk and Associates of British Columbia, which was holding the compensation in trust, told Sun Media a confidentiality agreement prohibited him from speaking about the case.
Suzanne Cobb, a spokesman for Correctional Service of Canada, said compensation payments over $1,000 must be listed in the public accounts but that details of the circumstances are often sealed.
White speculated that CSC pays out millions each year in compensation for theft, fraud, injury and death that too often stem from a lax system.
"It's wrong for two reasons," he said. "It's taxpayers' dollars and the public has a right to know. And second, the government, Corrections Canada in particular, must have made a pretty serious error and they're trying to cover that error up."
John Williams, a Conservative MP who chairs the Commons public accounts committee, said it's outrageous the government can pay out huge sums then shield itself from public embarrassment through the Privacy Act.
B.C. MP alleges prison cover-up
By KATHLEEN HARRIS, OTTAWA BUREAU
http://www.canoe.ca/CalgaryNews/cs.cs-01-16-0050.html
OTTAWA -- The federal government is trying to hide what's likely a "major screw-up" with a secret $740,000 payout by Corrections Canada, according to an Opposition MP.
The hefty sum was listed in the government's 2002 public accounts as "compensation for the murder by an offender."
Citing personal privacy protection, the Correctional Service of Canada has rejected a Sun Media request for details of the legal settlement under the Access to Information Act.
"It will be someone that they screwed up on, who they let out and then they committed another crime," said Randy White, a British Columbia MP.
"It's a pay-off to keep quiet is what it is. The victims have hollered and threatened suit and taken it close to court time."
A lawyer for Lauk and Associates of British Columbia, which was holding the compensation in trust, told Sun Media a confidentiality agreement prohibited him from speaking about the case.
Suzanne Cobb, a spokesman for Correctional Service of Canada, said compensation payments over $1,000 must be listed in the public accounts but that details of the circumstances are often sealed.
White speculated that CSC pays out millions each year in compensation for theft, fraud, injury and death that too often stem from a lax system.
"It's wrong for two reasons," he said. "It's taxpayers' dollars and the public has a right to know. And second, the government, Corrections Canada in particular, must have made a pretty serious error and they're trying to cover that error up."
John Williams, a Conservative MP who chairs the Commons public accounts committee, said it's outrageous the government can pay out huge sums then shield itself from public embarrassment through the Privacy Act.