BackThe Ontario Ombudsman’s Office in snowy Toronto, Canada welcomed more than 80 participants to its sixth annual training course, "Sharpening Your Teeth: Advanced Investigative Training for Administrative Watchdogs," January 21-23. The course, the largest to date, included colleagues from ombudsman offices and other watchdog agencies from all over Canada, including Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba and Yukon, and international participants from Kenya, Brazil, U.K., U.S., and Thailand.
This year's course included a new session on the importance of using social media and technology in investigations and communications, as well as training in advanced investigation techniques, based on the Ontario Ombudsman's proven systemic investigation methodology. Topics covered included investigation issue selection and planning, interviewing witnesses, assessing evidence and writing and publicizing reports. For the first time, participants could also use an "SYT app" on their mobile phones to get the course schedule, location, etc.
Special guest Peter Wallace, the Secretary of the Ontario Cabinet and head of the Ontario public service, gave the keynote speech, emphasizing the importance of government watchdogs. "Your roles were set up for an absolutely vital reason, which is to ensure the public gets its value for money, to ensure the bureaucracy does not run amok, to ensure that there's a human face and human values put on those decisions," he said. "Our world is immensely better off because of the role of the Ombudsman (and other oversight offices)."
"Sharpening Your Teeth" is conducted on a full cost-recovery basis. The next edition in Toronto is expected to be in January 2014. Customized versions of the course are also available upon request. For more information visit the website of the Ontario Ombudsman.
