The family of a B.C. health worker who took his own life after being falsely accused of misconduct and fired wants to see provincial leadership – including Premier Christy Clark – start taking personal responsibility.

Roderick MacIsaac's sister Linda Kayfish spoke out on Tuesday, days after the release of a damning ombudsman's report into the government's decision to fire her brother and seven others following a flawed and rushed investigation into an alleged privacy breach in 2012. 

MacIsaac, a man described by his family as a gentle and deeply private person, killed himself months after his dismissal. 

The report cleared every one of the employees of wrongdoing. It also determined there was "no political interference" in their firings, though Kayfish said there was plenty of damaging political posturing in the aftermath.

"As early as November 2012 an investigator found that Rod had done nothing wrong. The ministry chose not to contact him," Kayfish said during a tearful news conference.

"Roderick was still alive then."

She also pointed to the decision to put then-health minister Margaret McDiarmid in front of news cameras to address the allegations that researchers had inappropriately accessed sensitive medical records.

The minister announced there was an active RCMP investigation into the allegations, despite the fact that no such investigation was ever launched.

"These are not decisions made by middle management," Kayfish said, noting the same claim was subsequently made over and over again.

"They continued to give life to the lie of a non-existent RCMP investigation. You're darn right there was political interference – perhaps not at the very beginning, but it certainly started when Roderick was still alive."

The claim that an RCMP probe was underway had a serious impact on the workers who were wrongly fired, including MacIsaac, according to his family.

The 46-year-old was a co-op student working on his doctorate at the University of Victoria when he was tarnished by the scandal. He was unable to complete his studies after being fired.

Premier Clark and current Health Minister Terry Lake have both apologized for the firings, but Kayfish said their words rang hollow. Clark's apology in the legislature in 2014 was particularly insulting, she said.

"One thing stood out: She left a shadow, an innuendo, suggesting that Roderick may have done something wrong, and perhaps the government [was] a bit heavy-handed about it," Kayfish said.

"It's a fact that he did nothing wrong. It was those political accusations by this government that we feel tipped Roderick over the edge – the interference that broke him. And I'm still waiting for a real apology about what this government did."

Kayfish said she wants an in-person apology from the premier, though she doesn't expect one.

Her news conference was scheduled just an hour before the writ dropped for next month's provincial election, and Clark was asked about the family's allegations at a news conference of her own shortly after.

Clark insisted both her apology and Lake's were "absolutely sincere," but said she would be happy to meet with Kayfish in person as well.

"If it would bring Ms. Kayfish some closure, absolutely," Clark told reporters. "I'd be quite happy to repeat the apologies that this government made on behalf of the civil service in the legislature."

Clark noted that Ombudsman Jay Chalke’s report determined she and her officials did not order the firings. Graham Whitmarsh, a former deputy health minister, made the call, though the premier was aware of the investigation.

"But I understand, naturally, it was [Kayfish's] brother and she's full of grief about that," she added.

The report made 41 recommendations aimed at preventing a similar fiasco and righting some of the existing wrongs, including the creation of a $500,000 UVic scholarship in MacIsaac's name. The government has promised to adopt all of them.