Alberta Ombudsman Peter Hourihan to visit Pincher Creek

  Alberta Ombudsman Peter Hourihan

submitted photo

Toni Lucas

Alberta Ombudsman and Public Interest Commissioner Peter Hourihan will be in Pincher Creek on Wednesday, September 17, at the Lion’s Den Hall (644 Main Street) from 10:30 am to 4:00 pm. Call toll-free 1-888-455-2756 to book an appointment with an investigator. It is recommended you visit this link (click here) first for more information before filing a complaint.

"I've been the Ombudsman since 2011," Hourihan explained. He was sworn in as Alberta’s eighth Ombudsman in October of that year. Prior to that he spent 35 years in the RCMP, including significant mediation roles.

The Ombudsman is an Officer of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, reporting directly to the Assembly. The Ombudsman office is designed to be impartial, operating independently from the Alberta government, political parties and individual elected officials.  Offices in Edmonton and Calgary consist of administrative staff, complaints analysts, corporate services members, investigators and legal counsel, with a total current staff of 24 people.


"The Coles notes version is that I'm an independent Officer of the Legislature," said Hourihan.  He reports directly to the Legislature. "I'm independent, and impartial. My job, and our job, is to investigate complaints that people may have about unfair treatment by the Provincial Government. We have a whole number of jurisdictions that are encompassed in that. It would include the departments, such as Human Services, Health, Justice, Agencies, Boards and Commissions, like Alberta Treasury Branch, and Workers Compensation." Also included in his mandate are "The complaints process of a number of regulated positions such as doctors, nurses, dentists, and also over the patient concerns resolution process within Alberta Health Services."

The Ombudsman cannot investigate federal or municipal governments, MLAs, municipal or federal police forces, schools or universities, matters handled by the courts, and/or private matters. Anyone who feels they have been treated unfairly by a decision of an Alberta department or professional organization can contact the Ombudsman. Actual complaints must be in writing. An individual can appoint someone else to represent them by providing signed consent. The Ombudsman’s office does not charge a fee for any services.

"We are an office of last resort. If a person does have a complaint about an entity within the provincial government, first they have to exhaust all avenues available to them within the department, agency, board or commission. If that doesn't satisfy them, then they can come to us."
"Having said that, a lot of people are not clear as to when that would actually kick in. My answer to them is 'You call whenever you think you should call. If you are not at the right place, we can help you through that'."

"One of the reasons of this trip is to raise awareness of the services of this office to Albertans. We are not comfortable that everybody that should know, does know that we exist, and what we can do. We are trying to go to different parts of the province."

"The department has people that investigate (to make sure) that all proper policies and procedures have taken place, and that the person was treated fairly.

"The independent office notion is a significantly important role in our society. The independence is within my thought, and the Act provides me with the authority to make the decisions that I make without fear of favour, and my impartiality, I believe, certainly is there."

"In the last fiscal year, we had just under 3,900 telephone inquiries, 1,008 written complaints, and about 20% of those end up becoming formal investigations. The other 80% they're situations where the person is not at the right level of the process yet, and they need to go back into the system. If somebody calls and they're not sure, we pride ourselves on getting then to the right place."

Related link/source: www.ombudsman.ab.ca