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33rd Annual Report of the Québec Ombudsman (2002-2003)
"Going the extra mile"
Québec, November 5, 2003 - Québec Ombudsman Pauline Champoux-Lesage tabled her 2002-2003 annual report to the National Assembly today, which bears the title: “Going the extra mile”. This means going beyond the basic technical processing of case files and being concerned about the situation that each citizen is facing. This means providing citizens not only accurate and complete information, but also information that is truly relevant to their problem.
“Going the extra mile” means going beyond the job description to take responsibility for the appropriate handling of a file throughout the “system”. It means expressing understanding, assistance and guidance when appropriate to individuals who may be more fragile and less able of performing the required actions due to some physical or psychological problems. All in all, it means putting out that extra effort that can make all the difference and reflects the respect to be given to citizens.
If, on the other hand, this assistance is not provided, it can often lead to unsatisfactory, if not tragic results, in which case costs are far from reduced. Pauline Champoux-Lesage describes in her report several examples to support this position.
In her 2001-2002 annual report entitled “Above and beyond the law”, the Québec Ombudsman decried the consequences of enforcing administrative standards sometimes too rigourously. This year, she urges the administration to go beyond what would be considered providing normal services.
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