EDMONTON — A judge has granted Alberta’s government its request to question the former head of the provincial health authority about confidential emails she is accused of keeping and sharing without permission, including to media. Read More
The province is seeking a court order to have the emails returned, have Mentzelopoulos disclose who she shared the information with, and prevent her from using the emails as evidence in court
The province is seeking a court order to have the emails returned, have Mentzelopoulos disclose who she shared the information with, and prevent her from using the emails as evidence in court
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EDMONTON — A judge has granted Alberta’s government its request to question the former head of the provincial health authority about confidential emails she is accused of keeping and sharing without permission, including to media.
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The government’s request was made last month when it filed for an injunction in the high-profile lawsuit launched by Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former chief executive of Alberta Health Services.
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Mentzelopoulos is suing the government and AHS for wrongful dismissal, alleging she was illegally fired in January to stop her from investigating sweetheart deals and political interference in multimillion-dollar health procurement contracts.
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The province and AHS have denied that claim and any wrongdoing, arguing instead that Mentzelopoulos was fired for poor job performance and for stalling mandated health reform.
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Allegations from all sides have yet to be tested in court.
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Last month’s injunction application came after health authority officials discovered that Mentzelopoulos forwarded nearly a dozen emails containing confidential information related to allegations she has made to a personal email address the day before she was fired.
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The province is seeking a court order to have the emails returned, have Mentzelopoulos disclose who she shared the information with, and prevent her from using the emails as evidence in court.
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A written decision from Court of King’s Bench Justice Debra Yungwirth last week says government lawyers can question Mentzelopoulos about the emails.
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However, they won’t be permitted to ask about what she may have already shared with Alberta’s auditor general or the RCMP as part of their separate investigations into the allegations.
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Yungwirth wrote the exemptions were to “protect the integrity” of both investigations.
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“This direction strikes a balance between providing the (government and AHS) with information they need to ensure any privileged and confidential information is protected while not interfering with the ongoing work of the auditor general or the RCMP or other law enforcement,” Yungwirth wrote.
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According to the decision, Mentzelopoulos’s lawyer argued against the request to have his client questioned, saying it would amount to a “fishing expedition” as the government and AHS “simply want to determine what information she may have provided to the auditor general of Alberta and to the RCMP.”
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Lawyers for AHS and the government argued, according to the decision, that questioning “is the only way they can determine what documents Ms. Mentzelopoulos may have taken from AHS and what she did with those documents.”