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BUREAUCRACY GOT IT WRONG – Joseph O'Brien has received no apology from federal government officials after the ‘stressful' experience of having been erroneously declared deceased.
Photo by Vince Fedoroff
BUREAUCRACY GOT IT WRONG – Joseph O'Brien has received no apology from federal government officials after the ‘stressful' experience of having been erroneously declared deceased.
Meet Joseph O'Brien.
Meet Joseph O'Brien.
As Mark Twain once said: The reports of his death are greatly exaggerated.
O'Brien, a long-time resident of Carmacks and 20-year veteran of the Canadian Rangers, spent weeks trying to prove to the government he's not, in fact, dead.
"I'm alive,” O'Brien said Wednesday afternoon — stating the obvious as he walked into the Star's newsroom.
It was three weeks ago that O'Brien learned that, according to federal government paperwork, he had died.
O'Brien was at the Whitehorse H&R Block offices, expecting to receive a cheque after completing his taxes when staff told him the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) had a hold on his file.
Standing in line at the government office later that day, O'Brien said, he had no idea what the problem was.
"I gave them my social insurance number and it came back as Joseph O'Brien is dead. We never even had my potlatch,” he said, laughing.
Any semblance of humour ended quickly as O'Brien was passed between departments and repeatedly questioned by a federal investigator.
"She started asking me all sorts of questions over and over again. I felt like I was a criminal,” he said.
In total, he made the 175-kilometre trip between Carmacks and the capital eight times trying to sort out the mess, costing him time and money.
"At first, I thought it was funny, but later on, it's not so funny. It's annoying, I can't do anything.”
O'Brien said officials told him earlier this week it would take about 10 business days to straighten everything out.
On Thursday, fewer than 24 hours after O'Brien spoke to the Star, the mistake was fixed — O'Brien was alive again.
Despite his bureaucratic resurrection, O'Brien remains incredibly frustrated with the process.
"With Revenue Canada, they penalize you for being late, they threaten to take your bank account and your assets and they also threaten you with jail,” he said.
"But as a citizen serving this country in the military, how do I get treated?”
Last summer, O'Brien received a service medal from Defence Minister Peter MacKay — the fourth of his Ranger career.
"I loved this country, but how the heck is it that they made a mistake like that?” O'Brien asked.
"Nothing happens to them – ‘oh, sorry, we made a mistake,' but they can mess with people's lives.”
It is unclear exactly when O'Brien "died.” He's been given no explanation for what happened.
Officials say they can't discuss the specifics of the case with the media, citing confidentiality.
"Something like this is very rare,” Bradley Alvarez, a Canada Revenue Agency spokesperson, said from Vancouver.
"We get our information from a number of sources, and sometimes we get information that is incorrect. We try and fix those mistakes as quickly as possible.”
O'Brien successfully completed his taxes the same way last year without any problems.
Since then, no one he knows with his name or a similar name has died, he said.
Though he is grateful to be able to move on with his life, O'Brien would like, at the very least, an apology for the stressful mixup.
"It could have affected everything I think, if you're registered as dead; you're nobody.”
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Comments (10)
Up 1 Down 2
Roxy on Mar 16, 2012 at 7:42 am
Joseph your luck will, change sorry i missed your potlach . next time
Up 1 Down 3
lisa on Mar 15, 2012 at 9:40 am
i second the above comment. I too am tired of hearing about this mans misfortunes. Reminds me of the trevor the dog situation
Up 1 Down 1
Lorraine O'Brien on Mar 13, 2012 at 10:19 am
To Patrick i don't think that you would get over it if this were your story it was very frustrating to hear i know because i am his wife
Up 0 Down 1
mark on Mar 13, 2012 at 9:53 am
Every week this man is in the news. I think he loves seeing his photo\name in the paper. Move on mr obrien. The gov makes mistakes get over it. I dont run to local media when i get screwed over
Up 0 Down 1
Yukon Gal on Mar 13, 2012 at 4:49 am
I find this hard to believe that they could have made such a mistake. What are the chances that there is another Joseph Obrien from the Yukon Territory, born on the exact day he was,same age, and whatnot? hmmm. bet nobody thought of that hey? lol
Up 0 Down 1
Max Mack on Mar 13, 2012 at 3:11 am
I seem to recall similar stories from southern news agencies in recent years.
If I remember correctly, the Government of Canada has employees hired to scour obituaries, news stories and other sources to identify deceased individuals. They then attempt to match that information to the records of beneficiaries in federal databases. Apparently, this is done to limit cheques being issued to dead people (e.g. pension funds).
Sucks to be you when they accidentally determine that you are the dead person because it's not easy getting the mistake fixed.
Up 0 Down 1
Patrick on Mar 12, 2012 at 8:12 am
They made a mistake, get over it. There must be a ombudsman process that will shed some light on why the mistake was made.
Ressurrected in a sense- why not use it as a silver lining and be a better person.
Up 1 Down 1
north of 60 on Mar 10, 2012 at 11:50 am
Isn't this the sort of issue our MP is supposed to deal with?
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barb dawson on Mar 9, 2012 at 1:48 pm
maybe they thought he was abducted by the aliens
Up 0 Down 1
Patty O on Mar 9, 2012 at 12:42 pm
It is appalling that such a thing could happen to any person. In typical bureaucratic fashion, nobody is held accountable. Mr. O'Brien is entitled to, at the very least, a letter of apology. That they should put him through such a process so that he can prove his is alive is frightening! I am sure he was subjected to a lot of arrogance from people who did not want to fix their paperwork and so it would be easier to leave Mr. Joseph O'Brien as dead. I have met you sir, long ago. I can attest that you were very much alive then and I am happy to learn that you are still kicking. I am sorry that a portion of my taxes contributed to this boondoggle and trust that you have made copies of your identification papers... just in case.