A tale of two scandals

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/12/2023 (883 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is not often, if ever, that you see a headline indicating the University of Manitoba has declined to sue an ex-law dean to recover “contentious expenses” amounting to $500,000. It is not unprecedented, however, for the University of Manitoba to be victimized by a person in a position of trust.

Indeed, in 1932, Winnipeg newspapers carried a story stating that John A. Machray, a Winnipeg lawyer and a man who had managed the university’s investments for 25 years and had been chairman of the Board of Governors, had been charged with theft of “moneys and valuable securities, the property of the University.”

The Machray Scandal, as it became known, came as a shock to most Winnipeggers. Machray was charged, convicted, and incarcerated. A week after Machray went to Stoney Mountain to begin serving his term, Premier John Bracken established a Royal Commission to investigate not only how Machray had been able “to misappropriate” some $1.8 million but also to recommend changes necessary in the financial management of the university.

That was 1932. But what was said then about Machray still holds true today. The Crown prosecutor argued that a salient aspect of the Machray case was “the higher the standing in the community, the higher the standard of conduct required.”

Both the Crown prosecutor and the judge indicated that they were cognizant of the public interest regarding the Machray Scandal.

What is the public interest as it pertains to this most recent case? The first and most compelling public interest is that the U of M is a public organization which receives its revenue from government (i.e. taxpayers), students (through tuition fees), donors and other revenue generating activities from cafeterias to real estate sales. As such there is a requirement for greater transparency and accountability to all interested and affected parties.

As is always the case with determining the public interest, the key is the transparency of the decision-making process. Where is the transparency in this process?

According to sources at the U of M’s law school, faculty were barred from speaking about the departure of their former law dean in July 2020. A month later the dean was hired by a U.K. law school. Did a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) prevent the U.K. school from being informed of the circumstances behind his departure from the U of M?

Originally NDAs were put in place to protect trade secrets in the workplace, but today, as Dougald Lamont stated on X, they are used “to cover up wrongdoing.” And according to Julie Macfarlane, a professor of law at the University of Windsor, “NDAs have no place covering up allegations of misconduct in our public universities.”

Questions arise re the allegation of an NDA in this case.

If the dean was fired for cause (and if the allegations are true, it surely must constitute just cause) why would the university agree to impose an NDA on itself?

What if anything did the university gain by having the dean agree to an NDA? What could he have disclosed that could have hurt the university without damaging his own reputation even further?

All an NDA has done here is prevent transparency and undermine the confidence of the public in the university’s financial and human resources management.

A final public interest issue is the breach of trust inherent in these allegations and what to do about it.

Machray, a prominent Winnipeg lawyer, went to jail. The U of M apparently fired the dean and referred the matter to the Law Society. But why wasn’t more done to try to recover the money lost? Why weren’t the results of the university’s investigation referred to the police?

What are the lessons of this case? To date it appears that the public interest, accountability, and transparency have been sacrificed at the altar of expediency and appearances. And that is just wrong.

Mac Horsburgh resides in Winnipeg where he researches and writes about contentious issues.