Report from the Education and Training Committee
Forum of Canadian Ombudsman Annual General Meeting
Montreal, April 16, 2009

The Education and Training Committee is responsible for planning and organizing FCO's training courses, which provide most of the funds that support the Forum's operation. We offer about four courses a year to meet the unique professional development needs of ombudsman and their staff in Canada. Our mission is to offer courses in English and French as topics present themselves. By keeping groups small enough for lots of interaction, courses provide not only opportunities to learn but also to meet new people doing similar jobs across the country. Most people who have attended FCO courses identify networking - making contacts, discovering different ways to do things, picking up new ideas - as one of the best parts of their experience.

Committee members come from all sectors of the Canadian ombudsman world and this enables us to plan courses that are useful and interesting to a broad section of the membership. In 2008 we offered the following courses:

Complaint Intake: Challenges, Ideas and Techniques. In response to requests for specific training for ombudsman staff working in intake of complaints, we started the year with this course in Toronto in January. Forty people attended to discuss intake processes, case analysis, evaluating intake programs and innovative approaches. The Planning Committee for this course included Diann Bowes, Shelley Lancaster, George LaRosa, Candace Russell, and Carol Spencer, Many of the attendees asked for a follow up course - we are contemplating offering 'Intake 2' in 2010.

Working Behind Prison Walls. We offered the fourth annual course for ombudsman and staff working in the corrections field in Winnipeg in September - our first course in Manitoba. The planners included Tim Arkell, Bob Baker, Diann Bowes, François Levert, Bradley Moss, David Paradiso and Jim Shalkowsky. Their expertise in prison ombudsman work is invaluable for identifying timely issues and developing the course syllabus and is greatly appreciated. The course is unique and growing every year. This time it attracted 36 participants, including several prison administrative staff, from almost every province and the US. One of the highlights of this course is an opportunity to visit local correctional facilities. Planning for the 2009 Corrections course is underway; it will be held in Moncton, NB in early October.

L'Ombudsman, les diversités et l'accommodement raisonnable: les enjeux d'un problème ou d'une opportunité à saisir? In June, we offered a course on diversitiy and accomodating differences in Montreal. Planners for this course were Lynne Casgrain, Pierre Niedlispacher, Kristen Robillard, Marie-José Rivest and Justine Sentenne. With case studies, speakers from leading organizations in the field, and challenging discussions about comparative practices and designing programs, the sixteen attendees came away from the course with new insights and ideas to aid in their work.

Dealing With Difficult Complainant Behaviour. The Australian state ombudsman offices have done some groundbreaking work in this area and we were fortunate to be able to bring the Deputy Ombudsman of New South Wales to present a workshop for FCO in October. Our other speakers gave sessions on the mental health issues that sometimes give rise to behaviour that is hard to deal with. Course evaluations and participant comments were extremely positive and many who were not able to attend asked if we would be repeating this course. We're working on it!

As spring gives way to summer, the Education and Training Committee will turn its thoughts to putting on new courses in the fall of 2009. One will be the next Corrections course. We may also offer a course in Ombudsman Basics for people new to the field.

I would like to thank everyone who has worked with the Committee during this past year, especially all the Committee members I mentioned above who not only volunteered and organized but also prepared and often presented sessions at the courses. Thanks equally go to all the other FCO members and friends who volunteered to present this year. No report would be complete without thanks to Sue Haslam who took on many of the FCO Secretariat tasks in the last year. Last but not least, thanks to Steve Olive, who has contributed so much to the administration of our courses. Overall, it's been an exciting year for the E&T Committee and I look forward to another year equally exciting.

Suzanne Belson
Chair
Education and Training Committee
April 16, 2009

• Suzanne Belson (Chair)
• Tim Arkell - Ombudsman Ontario
• Bob Baker - Manitoba Ombudsman
• Diann Bowes - Alberta Ombudsman
• Lynne Casgrain - McGill University Health Centres
• Juanita Dwyer - Newfoundland & Labrador Citizen's Representative
• Renee Gavigan - Saskatchewan Ombudsman
• Shelley Lancaster - McMaster University
• Odette Lagacé - Université Laval
• François Levert - New Brunswick Ombudsman
• Greg Levine - Barrister & Solicitor
• Bradley Moss - Newfoundland & Labrador Citizen's Representative
• Pierre Niedlispacher - The Coca-Cola Corporation
• David Paradiso (part of the year) - Correctional Investigator
• Marie-José Rivest - Université de Montréal (retired).
• Kristen Robillard - Concordia University
• Candace Russell - Manitoba Ombudsman
• Justine Sentenne - Hydro-Québec
• Jim Shalkowsky - Investigation and Standards Office, British Columbia