However, the goal of efficiency should not be sought at the expense of service to citizens and the community – the very raison d'être of government. In the view of the Québec Ombudsman, the Department's refusal was not justified for two reasons. The Quebec Ombudsman recommended, in particular, that the Department make the necessary changes to its directives.
A citizen complained to the Québec Ombudsman about what she felt was excessive interference by the Department. However, the Quebec Ombudsman argued that the Department's verifications were unreasonable and could be prejudicial to the citizen.
DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES SERVICES CORRECTIONNELS
An investigation by the ombudsman in Québec found that detention actually lasted longer than the sentence imposed. The Ombudsman of Québec wishes to acknowledge the openness and efforts of the government departments concerned. The Quebec Ombudsman sees this as a sign of the low priority the ministry is giving to the matter.
The Ombudsman of Québec found that the updating of the provincial instructions is significantly delayed (several months and even years). Following the intervention of the Ombudsman of Québec, appropriate corrections were made in the detention centers concerned. Since then, the Québec Ombudsman has asked some detention facilities for a copy of the register.
The Québec Ombudsman asks that the inspections be carried out as soon as possible. Furthermore, the Québec Ombudsman considered that the office was too quick to accept that the trader was guilty. Following the Québec Ombudsman's recommendation, the office removed the notice of criminal offense from the trader's profile.
The Québec Ombudsman continues to have questions about real waiting times at the Régie du logement.
TAXATION
Revenu Québec told the Quebec Ombudsman that it "did not burden the interests of citizens during the period necessary to process notifications of change of situation.". After the Québec Ombudsman called Revenu Québec to find out what was happening with the citizen's notification of the change in situation, the agency made the required adjustments for the solidarity tax credit. Revenu Québec informed the Québec Ombudsman that it had taken measures to reduce the processing time of notifications of change of situation.
Québec Ombudsman therefore asked that the interest charged for this period be cancelled, which Revenu Québec agreed to do. By way of explanation to the Québec Ombudsman, Revenu Québec argued that it was for the citizen to correct her return without waiting for the notice of assessment. No source deductions were sent to Revenu Québec for the part of the salary that the citizen was not paid.
Following the intervention of the Québec Ombudsman, Revenu Québec agreed to examine the documents and amended its notice of review. Revenu Québec refused to grant the entrepreneur the deduction for certain equipment (investment tax credit). After investigating, the Québec Ombudsman concluded that the Revenu Québec agent should have referred the citizen to someone who could have answered his questions.
He therefore requested that an employee of Revenu Québec contact the citizen to explain the refusal.
SUPPORT-PAYMENT COLLECTION
When Revenu Québec reviewed the file, it noticed what had happened, six years after the fact. Given the extraordinary circumstances that prevailed and notwithstanding the legality of the payment order, the Québec Ombudsman recommended that Revenu Québec cancel its request, which it ultimately agreed to do. Under the law to facilitate the payment of support, it was the jurisdiction of Revenu Québec to recover these amounts.
Revenu Québec accepted the Québec Ombudsman's interpretation and acted to have the retroactive payment collected. These complaints have arisen since the introduction of the automatic collection of support payments administered by Revenu Québec. In its 2010-2011 annual report, the Québec Ombudsman was pleased to note that Revenu Québec applied the principles of this ruling.
Since 1999, the citizen has paid child support, taken directly from his salary by Revenu Québec's collection department, to his ex-spouse for their son. The file has now met all the eligibility requirements for processing in accordance with the provisions of the Québec Supreme Court ruling authorizing Revenu Québec to stop support payments. However, the Québec ombudsman learned that Revenu Québec did not wish to apply the principle of the judgment in question and therefore did not process the forms it had sent out, so he recommended that pending cases be processed nonetheless while waiting is for a definitive mechanism to be put in place.
Revenu Québec agreed to act on the recommendation of the Québec Ombudsman and as of May 2011, approximately 370 pending cases have been processed.
DIRECTEUR DE L’ÉTAT CIVIL
The Director de l'état civil accepted the mother's already feminized surname, as the parents requested. Despite these documents, the Director de l'état civil refused to process the registration in accordance with the parents' request. The Québec Ombudsman's investigation confirmed, first of all, that the Director de l'état civil had changed the child's surname to the father's surname, a masculine form that, in the tradition of their country of origin, was nonsensical for a girl. .
From the point of view of the Directeur de l’état civil, it was impossible to change his birth records to comply with the parents' request, unless they resorted to the administrative procedure to change the name. After analyzing the file, the Directeur de l'état civil suggested entering the judgment in the civil registry, which she did and which allowed her to receive a birth certificate with a new surname soon after. This citizen's problems with the SAAQ could have been easily solved if she had a letter from the Directeur de l'état civil explaining the steps she took to register, the steps that led to the issuance of the birth certificate.
The Québec Ombudsman asked the Directeur de l'état civil to send such a letter to the person concerned, which it did, ultimately resulting in the SAAQ issuing a driver's license with the new surname. Since the Québec Ombudsman had already had to intervene with the Directeur de l'état civil several times in similar cases, but without any significant improvement, it brought together representatives of the agency and the SAAQ to discuss cases. Following the meeting, the Directeur de l'état civil agreed to provide a letter to citizens born outside Québec explaining the situation each time it installed a name change obtained abroad.
The Québec Ombudsman is satisfied with the directive put in place by the Directeur de l’état civil and looks to the SALQ to develop a written guideline in this regard.
HIGHWAY SAFETY CODE
A citizen sought the assistance of the Quebec Ombudsman, as she could not meet the conditions set by the SAAQ for lifting the suspension of her license. Further to the investigation, the Quebec Ombudsman requested that the SAAQ request a supplementary report from the attending physician. As a result of the intervention of the Québec Ombudsman, the SAAQ asked the driver to retake the test, which he passed, so the suspension of his license was lifted.
Following the intervention of the Québec Ombudsman, the SAAQ had the other driver's record sent from Saskatchewan. CONSIDERATION OF CERTIFICATION STATIONS BEFORE RESPONDING WITH A REFUSAL A vehicle owner sought assistance from the Québec Ombudsman after the SAAQ rejected his registration application. SAAQ held that the vehicle remained the property of the insurer because of the theft component.
Complaints handled by the Québec Ombudsman highlighted SAAQ's inconsistency in refusing to face the consequences of some of its mistakes. Québec's ombudsman managed to obtain a letter from SAAQ explaining its error so that the citizen concerned could contest the ticket. The Québec Ombudsman also asked the SAAQ to correct its computerized registration system so that similar situations do not occur.
Since the Association tabled the plan in March 2010, the Québec Ombudsman has monitored its implementation with the SALQ.
COMPENSATION OF ROAD ACCIDENT VICTIMS
The Québec Ombudsman asked the SAAQ to consult the record and then make a decision on the citizen's eligibility for compensation. The SALK delivered a new decision based on the accident victim's file and accepted her claim. The Québec Ombudsman's investigation revealed that the SALQ refused to reimburse the travel expenses of the accompanying person.
At the request of the Québec Ombudsman, SAAQ informed the citizen of its requirements, and she provided a medical certificate proving that her physical condition required someone to accompany her. The Québec Ombudsman asked SAAQ to grant the citizen the requested refund, and she agreed. The emergence of these types of complaints and the problems identified during the analysis of these complaints prompted the Québec Ombudsman to further document SAAQ's use of this monitoring technique.
An investigation into these cases has led the Québec Ombudsman to conclude that the SAAQ does not always use its investigative and decision-making powers in accordance with the applicable legal and administrative framework or with the principles established through jurisprudence. The Québec Ombudsman believes that victims of traffic accidents do not have this insurance from the SAAQ. In February 2012, SAAQ notified the Québec Ombudsman that it had accepted all of the report's recommendations and submitted an action plan for their implementation.
The Québec Ombudsman is satisfied with the action plan and the announced measures and is keeping an eye on the implementation.