The American distortion of the ombudsman concept and its influence on Canada

Abstract

The essence of the original ombudsman concept as embraced by the western democracies was the independence of the ombudsman from the administrative organization being complained against. This is achieved by having the office created by law and having the ombudsman appointed by the legislature and made its agent. But as adopted and expanded in the United States, and to a lesser extent in Canada, the concept has been distorted by extending it at first to embrace so-called ombudsmen appointed by the heads of the departments or agencies being complained against, and then to the non-profit and profit sectors of society through similar appointment by the heads of universities, hospitals, and business corporations for internal student, patient, and employee complaints. This article shows how this development has similarly influenced Canada, and concludes with recommendations designed to restore the original concept as the desired objective and thus once again make Canada a world leader in ombudsmanship.