A former staffer at the B.C. Ministry of Transportation is alleging that more than a dozen emails relating to the infamous Highway of Tears were deleted in November 2014 following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
The NDP has made public a letter written by former executive assistant Tim Duncan to Privacy Commissioner Elizabeth Denham, saying when he protested an instruction to delete the emails, a ministerial assistant took hold of Duncan’s keyboard.
“When I hesitated, he took away my keyboard, deleted the emails and returned the keyboard, stating, ‘It’s done. Now you don’t have to worry about it anymore,'” Duncan wrote in the letter.
When his concerns continued to be dismissed, Duncan writes, he was told, “It’s like The West Wing. You do whatever it takes to win.”
‘A symptom of sick government’
Duncan writes that he does not believe the incident was unusual.
“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 Clark government. I would ask that you please look into this further.”
Denham responded Thursday with a statement confirming the receipt of Duncan’s letter.
“My office has been in touch with the individual who raised these allegations, and I am now determining next steps in an investigation,” the statement reads.
John Horgan, leader of the B.C. NDP says the accusations are “shocking”, and a “symptom of sick government.”
“The letter says it all about how Christy Clark’s government approaches its responsibilities to the people of B.C.,” said Horgan in a statement, “‘You do whatever it takes to win.’ Even when it involves missing and murdered women.”
RCMP say the route along Highway 16 that winds between Prince George and Prince Rupert is where at least 18 women have gone missing or been murdered since 1969. Seventeen of those cases remain unsolved.
