The sa国际传媒 Health Ministry has done the right thing in informing wrongly fired employees that the government is no longer pursuing an RCMP investigation into alleged privacy breaches involving ministry data used for health research.
With that cloud gone, the government should clear the air even further and explain the who and why of the botched firings.
Margaret MacDiarmid, health minister at the time, dropped a bombshell in September 2012 when she announced that seven Health Ministry employees had been removed from their jobs. She said personal medical data had been used for research without permission, but offered few details, other than to say the RCMP would be involved. The government鈥檚 own investigation found the process that led to the firings was wrong on every count and violated the most elementary of human-resource principles.
Since then, employees have been reinstated, lawsuits have been launched and settled, grievances cleared up and apologies delivered by the government, but until this week, the spectre of an RCMP investigation lingered, even though police officials seemed as puzzled as anyone.
Invoking the threat of RCMP involvement was heavyhanded and added injury to those who were already hurting. Removing the threat of a police investigation is a step forward, but like all the steps taken in this process, it is taken grudgingly and late.
A bad odour continues to permeate this scandal, and it can only be cleared up by an honest explanation.
