CITY HALL
Ombudsman leaving her post at Torontonians’ ‘office of last resort’ more than two years early

After helping thousands of people fight Toronto city hall on everything from dangerous dogs to dangerous advice relayed to homeless people, ombudsman Susan Opler is leaving her post early.

Appointed by city council in September 2016, Opler announced Wednesday she will depart next April — two and a half years before the end of her term.

Opler, who acts independently of the city manager and reports directly to city council, describes her 14-member office as “a bridge to fairness” and “office of last resort” for Torontonians who complain they were ill treated by city hall.


The 59-year-old former litigation lawyer said in an interview it was a personal decision to leave before the end of her seven-year term

以下中文为谷歌翻译，不尽如意，读者自己对照原文

在协助成千上万的人与多伦多市政厅作斗争之后，从危险的狗到向无家可归的人传达的危险建议，监察员苏珊·奥普勒（Susan Opler）提前离职。

2016年9月由市议会任命，奥普勒（Opler）周三宣布，她将于明年4月离任-提前两年半离职。

奥普勒（Opler）独立于市长的职务，直接向市议会报告。她将14名成员的办公室描述为“多伦多市人民的坦白”和“最后的办公室”，这些人抱怨多伦多人受到市政厅的虐待。

这位59岁的前诉讼律师在接受采访时表示，这是个人决定在她的7年任期结束前离开

“I’ve decided that, at this stage of my career, I want to make a change, to spend a little less time working and try to regain some balance in my life,” Opler said.

“It’s a very big job, with a lot of pressure. It’s been a huge honour and a wonderful opportunity, but I just feel like the time is right for me to make a change.”

Opler plans to take a break and then consider a return, part-time, to mediation work or teaching.

She gave the city six months’ notice to replace her and ensure a smooth transition into the vital role. In 2019 alone, her office handled 2,319 cases and produced reports on the four biggest issues.

“我决定，在职业生涯的这一阶段，我想做出改变，减少工作时间，并设法重新获得生活的平衡，”奥普勒说。

“这项工作非常艰巨，压力很大。 这是一次巨大的荣誉，也是一次绝妙的机会，但我只是觉得现在是时候进行改变了。”

Opler计划休息一下，然后考虑兼职返回调解工作或教学。

她给这座城市六个月的通知，要求更换她并确保顺利过渡到至关重要的角色。 仅在2019年，她的办公室就处理了2319起案件，并就四个最大问题发表了报告。

Asked for highlights of her tenure, Opler cites a probe of “obsolete” and “incorrect” information given by city staff to homeless people seeking emergency shelter during a record cold snap in late 2017. Some were turned away when warm beds were available.

Her report led to “better standards for those services, better co-ordination of the services and better communication on essential services for some of Toronto’s most vulnerable people,” Opler said.

She is also proud of investigations of TTC enforcement. They were spurred by two violent incidents, one involving a young Black man detained on a streetcar platform.

当被问及她任期的亮点时，奥普勒引用了城市工作人员对2017年末创纪录的寒潮期间无家可归者寻求紧急庇护所的“过时”和“不正确”信息的调查。当有暖床可用时，有些人被拒之门外。

奥普勒说，她的报告导致“这些服务的标准更高，服务的更好协调以及对多伦多一些最弱势人群的基本服务的更好沟通”。

她还为TTC执法调查感到自豪。 他们受到两起暴力事件的刺激，其中一起事件涉及一名被拘留在有轨电车平台上的年轻黑人。

“That work led directly to the TTC implementing a system-wide anti-racism strategy and taking steps to change the culture of its enforcement unit, both of which I think are hugely impactful changes that will benefit the people of Toronto,” Opler said.


Asked about the job’s greatest challenge, she said “knowing how to spend limited resources ... It’s a very small office with a very big mandate.” Opler noted council gave her funding for two additional staff in 2020 after years of requests.

Opler说：“这项工作直接导致TTC实施了全系统的反种族主义战略，并采取了措施来改变其执法部门的文化，我认为这两项都是具有重大影响的变革，将使多伦多人民受益。”

当被问及这份工作面临的最大挑战时，她说：“知道如何使用有限的资源……这是一个很小的办公室，任务量很大。” 奥普勒（Opler）指出，经过多年的要求，市议会在2020年为她增添了两名员工。

Toronto is the only Ontario municipality with a legislated ombudsman. The job was created with three other watchdogs — integrity commissioner, auditor general and lobbyist registrar — after a late 1990s computer leasing scandal.


During Wednesday’s executive committee meeting Mayor John Tory informed his colleagues of Opler’s decision, praising her “entirely constructive” work to “energetically put forward the interests,” of Torontonians seeking help.

多伦多是安大略省唯一拥有立法监察员的城市。 在1990年代后期的计算机租赁丑闻之后，这项工作是由其他三个监督机构完成的，这些监督机构是廉政专员，审计长和游说登记员。

在星期三举行的执行委员会会议上，市长约翰·托里（John Tory）向奥普勒的决定通报了他的同事，称赞她为“大力提出利益”所做的“建设性的”工作，这是多伦多人寻求帮助的。

这个工作不好做。谁会是下任监察员呢？

多伦多市政府是加拿大最大的市政府，也是问题最多的一个，投诉还不够多呢，因为很多人自己先打了退堂鼓，感觉没有被公平对待的市民人数应该比到监察员办公室投诉的人数翻几番。