They were right.'Ĭzapalay says pulling the agency's provincial funding was the department's only recourse against the third-party contractor. 'They stood up when they suspected something was wrong. 'Why must working people pay the price for the government's lack of accountability and oversight?' she asked. The province could have removed the agency's executive director and board, and provided more rigorous oversight of the agency, she said. Sandra Mullen, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, said the government's process sends 'a mixed message' to whistleblowers.

'In Cape Breton, it's hard to find a job where everyone knows where you've worked,' she said.Ĭoombes says the province should have stepped in at the agency and ensured the employees were not let go, but Ava Czapalay, deputy minister in the Department of Labour, says the province went above and beyond its obligation to the employees, offering them a two-month working notice before Island Employment shut down, followed by eight weeks of severance pay. The workers, she said, remained under 'a dark cloud' due to their past connections to the organization. 'It took six months for some to find permanent jobs,' Coombes said in the legislature on Friday. Kendra Coombes, NDP MLA for Cape Breton Centre-Whitney Pier, says the whistleblowers were among 30 workers at the Island Employment Association who lost their jobs after the province pulled the agency's funding in 2021, shortly after the province's Ombudsman released a report with similar findings of gross mismanagement. A member of the Nova Scotia legislature from Cape Breton says employees who came forward with complaints of financial mismanagement at a local employment agency should have been protected.Įarlier this week, Nova Scotia's auditor general released a report alleging senior leadership of Island Employment Association took part in 'gross mismanagement' of public funds totalling more than $1 million, including about $340,000 in transactions that involved alleged conflicts of interest.

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