Yukon government scours youth service office, citing 'plumbing issue'
Nancy Thomson | CBC News | Posted: June 15, 2018 2:56 PM | Last Updated: June 15, 2018
'Deputy minister, all this treachery has devastated my office,' writes worker at youth service office
Senior officials within Yukon's Health and Social Services Department temporarily shut down a walk-in service for at-risk Yukon youth, citing plumbing and heating as the reason, CBC has learned.
Integrated Supports for Yukon Youth (ISYY) has an office on 2nd Avenue in Whitehorse and all its workers were suddenly sent home last Friday.
The service is a one-stop shop for youth who may need help navigating government services including health care, finding housing and getting ID.
They closed all the blinds. - Worker at Integrated Supports for Yukon Youth
A worker at ISYY sent an email to the deputy minister, Stephen Samis, on Sunday, after being told workers had to leave the office and could not return until Tuesday. CBC is not naming the worker to protect their identity.
The worker said it was the assistant deputy minister, the director of family and children's services, and two other staff who forced staff to leave.
"These four people showed up and began scouring the office ... They closed all the blinds in the office," the worker said in the email to Samis.
All this treachery has devastated my office. - Worker at Integrated Supports for Yukon Youth
The email goes on to say that the assistant deputy minister joined the workers in the parking lot and told them "it was due to plumbing and heating problems."
The worker also referenced the recent suspension of ISYY manager Jane Bates in their email. Bates was suspended without pay just weeks after disclosing alleged wrongdoing within the department to the deputy minister. Bates is appealing that suspension.
"Deputy minister, all this treachery has devastated my office," the worker wrote. "We are all literally sick about this and no one seems to care about how we have been impacted and how our service to the public has been impacted."
"We are all watching and waiting to see if you will do the right thing."
- Yukon whistleblower suspended after disclosing wrongdoing in government-run group homes
- Yukon gov't workers terrified to disclose wrongdoing, say whistleblowers
The worker said Bates cared about helping at-risk youth.
"Removing her like this has hurt ... many vulnerable young people in the community."
Union receives complaint from ISYY worker
The president of the Yukon Employees' Union, Steve Geick, said late Friday afternoon he received a phone message from an official at the Public Service Commission, saying that people at ISYY offices were being sent home.
"He didn't say it was a plumbing issue," said Geick.
Geick said he then received a complaint from a worker from ISYY on Sunday.
"It sounds pretty secretive. The blinds got closed and no one was allowed into the building," he said. "The optics of it at this point in time — with people coming forward and then managers being released, suspended, that type of thing ... to our members, is horrible."
After hearing from the worker from ISYY, Geick said he sent an email on Monday to the minister responsible for the Public Service Commission, Richard Mostyn, asking what was going on.
"I thought that something was a little amiss. So I followed up with the minister, Mostyn, as well with the Public Service Commission," Geick said. "The Public Service Commission [was] actually quite surprised to hear that this whole thing had transpired."
Geick said he learned from a worker at ISYY that an apology was delivered on Tuesday to the ISYY workers.
"And then the next thing we heard was that the assistant deputy minister ... along with the director of staff relations from the Public Service Commission had gone down there and basically offered an apology that ... either miscommunication or the wrong message was given," said Geick.
"But basically that there was no plumbing and heating problem. It was basically, sorry we misled you kind of idea."
Geick said he wonders if the youth that use the ISYY services will now feel safe going into the office to speak with staff.
"Are they going to feel safe going in there when they hear this kind of thing is going on? If I was a kid that was using that service, I wouldn't want to go back there," he said.
CBC requested interviews with Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost, Mostyn, and senior officials from the Health Department, but was told they weren't available.