Canada’s Auditor General’s “flack jacket”

Send us a comment to : feedback@southasiamail.com

By Bob Hughes

As the racial discrimination case of Dr. Chander Grover, a Canadian scientist of South Asian ancestry, drags on into it’s 23rd year, questions often arise, “How can such torture and abuse of an esteemed scientist by Canadian officials, on Canadian soil, be allowed to happen?”, and “Why would Canada’s financial watchdog, the Auditor General secretly become involved in investigating and working to thwart a Human Rights case?”

“Those are questions that I wrestle with all the time when working on Dr. Grover’s case”, states Bob Hughes (see picture) of the Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism (SCAR), an advocacy group that continues to push for justice in this case. “It is as if there is a ‘conspiracy of silence’ in regard to this shameful case of abuse.” SCAR has contacted the Prime Minister and many MP’s from all of the Federal Political parties to ask for their help to push for a settlement in the case and for a Public Inquiry into the way the case has been dealt with, including the secret involvement of the Auditor General. “So far, there have been no takers,” said Hughes, noting that Auditor General Sheila Fraser has built a “flack jacket” of trust around her that seems to make MP’s wary of being seen as questioning any of her actions. “We have also called on groups such as the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation to get involved in relation to this tremendous waste of taxpayers’ money, estimated at over 60 million dollars so far,” Hughes said, “They too, seem to be either uninterested in such financial abuse or possibly concerned that exposing the misconduct of such an establishment figure may also threaten their own ‘comfortable’ positions in society.”

“The fact that the abuse of Dr. Grover has been allowed to continue unabated for so long must surely be, in great part, because of the racism that permeates the very fabric of this country,” says Hughes. “But the secret involvement of the Auditor general; what is that about? Article 18.2(1) of the Auditor General’s Act may hold at least part of that answer.

This Article, at first glance, appears to provide the OAG with immunity for almost any normal auditing function that they may perform. However, in the Grover case, auditing was not the Auditor General’s focus. The Auditor General was clearly ‘investigating” the Grover case and assisting the National Research Council to usurp the authority of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunals and other Canadian courts………which brings up some further questions, ‘Are these the duties that the Auditor General is authorized to carry out, and if so, why is she carrying them out in secret?’ ”

The Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism is calling on all of Canada’s fair-minded citizens to join us in calling for an immediate resumption of settlement negotiations with Dr. Grover and for the setting up of a Public Inquiry into the way this case has been handled, with specific focus on the role of Canada’s Auditor General.

Bob Hughes is Advocate / Spokesperson, Saskatchewan Coalition Against Racism (SCAR), PO Box 33022, Cathedral PO, Regina, Sask. S4T 7X2; Telephone: 306-352-4698; E-mail: hughes.scar28@hotmail.com

Comments