Alberta Minister Iris Evans 'Betrays Worker" - Gets WCB to Draft Letter Refusing Help

"He expected Employment Minister Iris Evans would help him in his battle with the Workers' Compensation Board . . . Evans instead got the WCB to draft her letter refusing to help him - and she’s not the first Conservative government minister to have pulled the move, despite the WCB being an arm’s length public body."

Evans 'betrays' worker

Gets WCB to draft letter refusing help

He expected Employment Minister Iris Evans would help him in his battle with the Workers' Compensation Board, and instead Richard Falk is left feeling betrayed.

Now Falk wonders who to trust, after Evans instead got the WCB to draft her letter refusing to help him - and she's not the first Conservative government minister to have pulled the move, despite the WCB being an arm's-length public body.

Falk wrote to the WCB asking for help in getting a doctor to release notes relevant to his claim, as required under the Workers' Compensation Act, and sent a copy of the letter to Evans.

Internal WCB correspondence obtained under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act shows that a month later, Evans sent the letter to the WCB, the very group with whom Falk is fighting, requesting it draft her response.

Its government relations department took 30 minutes to do so. Copies of the draft from the WCB to Evans and the final letter mailed to Falk by Evans are identical.

"I am the Minister responsible for the Workers' Compensation legislation and the president and CEO and the WCB board of directors are in direct control of the day-to-day operations of the business," Evans "wrote."

In fact, under its legislated mandate, the WCB is supposed to be independent of government. That means Evans has a lot of explaining to do for being in bed with the agency at all, said NDP critic Ray Martin.

"This is outrageous behaviour on the part of a government minister. She not only ignores the fact that the WCB is supposed to operate independently of government, but she uses the WCB to draft a letter explaining why she can't help someone who is injured," said Martin.

Evans would not talk to Sun Media about the case. However, spokesman Lorelei Fiset-Cassidy said the minister considers the WCB's role in drafting the letter "irrelevant."

"The information on any particular file is held by that public body, and therefore she needs in order to respond appropriately to gather information from that public body," said Fiset-Cassidy.

If Evans wasn't confident in what the WCB said in the letter, and that she wasn't taking sides in the dispute, she wouldn't have signed it, said Fiset-Cassidy.

Falk, now living in Coquitlam, B.C., has been fighting for his medical records for years, after being granted full compensation for his back injuries in 2002, only to have them withdrawn with little explanation months later.

Falk concedes that after years of fighting the WCB and the government, he's not sure who to believe anymore.

The extensive documentation Falk received under Freedom of Information shows former employment minister Clint Dunford also got an opinion from the WCB before refusing to help Falk.

"He tells me on the phone that this should be a 10-minute fix, that there's no way I should be going through this. And then I get a letter from him saying he can't help. And then I find that's because he's been given advice by the WCB that he doesn't have to help me."

The agency a few years ago was slammed by a former judge's inquiry for going out of its way to reject claims. That panel recommended the government review all cases back as far as 1986. The government promised to do so, but has consistently reneged.

A Sun Media investigation last year revealed internal cases of financial mismanagement, potential financial fraud and an internal bonus policy that rewarded staff for closing cases by certain dates.