In Testimony, Auditor General Recounts Trouble with Immigration Dept.

Dorothy Bradley

Inside the National Assembly chamber, the Auditor General discussed her interactions with the Immigration Department in compiling and filing the report. Put simply, it was no picnic trying to obtain information from the Department or the Ministry.

Dorothy Bradley, Auditor General

“Generally, I would want to start by saying that I think the team and my staff is fully aware that it doesn’t matter who you are investigating or examining, of course there will be a level of resistance. Except that once we started making requests and going into the department to do the actual examinations, at one point, we could not access the director. At one point we had to be on the veranda. It was people from immigration outside who called saying are you aware that your people are out here in the sun waiting to get into immigration. We asked for certain information; we would be told that it is not in immigration, but it is with the ministry. We would then go to the ministry—right to the ministry—to ask for information. They would then in turn say, “No, it is not here, it is at immigration.” So we had that kind of back and forth.”

Mark Lizarraga, Senator of Business Sector

“And obviously you made complaints or you made reports that your people were getting this sort of treatment. Did conditions improve after your initial…”

Dorothy Bradley

“Yes. Yes.”