The BC ombudsperson is an independent officer of the provincial legislature,  which means that, similar to the auditor general and information and privacy commissioner, they report directly to the legislature, rather than to the government of the day. The role of the ombudsperson’s office is to impartially investigate the public’s complaints about the fairness and administration of the wide range of provincial government services and programs that fall under the office’s jurisdiction.

I was hired as the first and only employee in a solely communications role in the office’s 30-year history (at the time), which meant I needed to take a flexible and creative approach to determining the scope and limits of the position.

My responsibilities included the following: 

• coordinating the physical production of the office’s annual and systemic public reports
• drafting sections of our annual and systemic reports and then conducting multiple levels of editing on the entire documents: substantive, style, copy editing and proofreading
• creating communications plans for the release of our annual and systemic reports
• researching and writing news releases, presentations and speeches for the ombudsperson
• helping the ombudsperson prepare for media interviews
• supporting the ombudsperson’s provincial outreach tours by pitching stories to local media, liaising with community groups, and arranging advertising to promote the tours
• serving as the office’s first point of contact for media inquiries
• liaising and contracting with vendors of promotional merchandise for the office
• coordinating a major and overdue overhaul of the office’s website.