B.C.’s ombudsperson says British Columbians are facing a growing mix of pressures when trying to access fair public services.
Ombudsperson Jay Chalke released his 2024/2025 annual report Tuesday (Nov. 18) where he says a legislative committee hearing about his office’s reports would help ensure accountability and transparency when public administration problems are identified.
His office says it would be a “practical, cost-effective step already used for other oversight offices,” according to a news release from the ombudsperson.
The ombudsperson is an independent officer of the legislature that investigates complaints of unfair or unreasonable treatment by provincial and local public bodies.
B.C.’s public services are reportedly becoming more complex to navigate, while public sector budgets are tightening and decisions are being shaped by AI or automated decision-making, according to a release from the ombudsperson.
Chalke says many of the matters reaching his office are now crisis-driven and points to cases where people were left without essential supports until his office intervened
He highlighted three instances:
• A woman went without money for food after her income-assistance cheque was withheld, causing an avoidable gap in basic supports.
• A man living with a disability was wrongly denied accessible transit, even though the law made him automatically eligible.
• A property owner was issued a bylaw notice of more than $1,000 for maintenance on a lot that wasn’t even his.
The ombudsperson says these are concrete examples of how small administrative decisions can have outsized impacts when systems are under strain.
“When systems are stretched, fairness is often the first thing to erode – and the most important thing to restore,” he said.
The annual report also notes that more than 17,500 people turned to the ombudsperson for help navigating unfair public services, and the office handled about 635 new fairness or wrongdoing concerns each month.
The report also found that over one-third of the complaints were related to housing, affordability and healthcare. As well, nearly half of the office’s settled complaints involve “complicated, multi-layered issues that take longer and require more detailed analysis to resolve,” the release adds.