A former executive assistant for B.C.’s Minister of Transportation has come forward with damning allegations the government destroyed records relating to the notorious Highway of Tears.
In a complaint to the province’s privacy commissioner, Tim Duncan said he received a Freedom of Information request for emails on ministry meetings about the murders and missing person cases while he was working for Todd Stone in 2014.
Duncan claims he found more than a dozen such emails and reported them to ministerial assistant George Gretes, who then ordered that they be trashed.
“He came over to my desk, took a quick look at the list of emails on my computer screen, and promptly directed me to delete them,” Duncan wrote in his complaint.
When Duncan hesitated, Gretes allegedly took his keyboard, deleted the emails and then told him, “It’s done. Now you don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
The content of the emails is not outlined in the complaint.
Months later, Duncan alleges he raised concerns about the conduct to the BC Liberals’ research director Jen Wizinsky and she brushed him off.
“I want to stress that this is not an isolated incident. It is my belief that the abuse of the Freedom of Information process is widespread and most likely systemic within the [Premier Christy] Clark government,” he wrote.
The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act is a law forcing the government to respond to public requests for information in a timely manner, and is chiefly used by journalists.
B.C.’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has chided the province in the past for failing to provide documents on time and over concerns about record management.
Denham said she has been in contact with Duncan and is determining how to move forward with an investigation into his complaint.
CTV News has also learned one government staffer has been suspended pending the outcome of the probe.
Speaking to reporters at the Legislature on Thursday, Minister Stone described the allegations as “serious” and promised to follow-up with his staff.
“I’ll be having a pretty frank conversation with Mr. Gretes and others in my office and we’ll be following up on this quite diligently and very, very quickly,” he said.
All political staff are trained on Freedom of Information requirements, Stone said, and he expects everyone working for him to follow them.
Asked whether he was aware of anyone breaking the rules, Stone said: “Not to the best of my understanding, no.”
He declined to speculate on why Duncan might have decided to come forward.
In a letter to NDP MLA Maurine Karagianis, Duncan said his motivation was the murder of his father in a domestic incident five years ago, which made him sympathize with the Highway of Tears victims’ families.
“It upsets me a great deal that the government is lying about deleting records. I know what it is like to be a family member of someone who is murdered,” he wrote. “[Victims’ families] deserve better.”
