The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
"What do you make of the Lloyd Carr affair?" I asked a colleague earlier this week. I knew just about every angle of this stunning story had been exhausted, but I was still curious to hear his take. "You know," he told me, "it's probably amazing how many other people just like him are out there." Very true. Mr. Carr may have been astoundingly cunning, but we would be kidding ourselves to think he was the only phony in a workplace where he does not belong. Surely there are other Lloyd Carrs Ð who knows how many? Ð in Canada. In Manitoba. Perhaps even right here in Flin Flon-Creighton. Yet according to the NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority, there is "no reason" to believe the agency has been duped by anyone but Mr. Carr, who is now safely behind bars in Alberta. Fair enough, but there was evidently no reason to believe Mr. Carr was a serial bamboozler, either, until his elaborate web of lies came untangled thanks to news reports out of Edmonton. In fact, if not for Google News or cable television, Mr. Carr may very well have served his time in Alberta and returned to work as a mental health clinician in Flin Flon, with the community none the wiser. Fortunately Mr. Carr was busted, and his success in hoodwinking the NRHA for 18 months has exposed dangerous gaps within the agency's hiring practices Ð gaps that have now been filled. As The Reminder reported Wednesday, from here on in the NRHA will confirm with the RCMP all criminal record check documentation relating to prospective employees. Many were surprised to learn this was not already being done, for in this age of computers and scanners, forging documents is no doubt child's play to someone like Mr. Carr. Potential new hires must also submit original copies of their diplomas and degrees. Photocopies like the one supplied by Mr. Carr Ð a bogus Bachelor of Social Work Ð will no longer cut it. If it's not already being done, the NRHA should also take the time to contact the relevant education institute to verify each graduate's credentials. Mr. Carr made scamming the NRHA look easy, but surely it involved more skill and luck than meets the eye. Still, the Carr affair illustrates, in quite stark terms, that the old hiring system was fallible. As such, it would not hurt for the NRHA to review the qualifications and backgrounds of all other staff members, just to be sure everyone checks out. Even though he lived in Flin Flon, I never met Mr. Carr. I have heard he kept a low profile, which makes sense; it would have taken just one curious (or bored) person to Google his name for his whole world to come crashing down. There is much we will never know about Mr. Carr, but I'm willing to speculate that he chose to come to Flin Flon and area for a reason. Perhaps he surmised that, as a small, isolated region, we would be so eager to get a qualified mental health clinician that we wouldn't be overly picky Ð or ask too many questions. Having already been fooled once, the NRHA needs to make sure there aren't any other Lloyd Carrs in our midst. Fresh background and qualification checks of all of its workers are in order. It's better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to our physical and mental well-being. Local Angle runs Fridays.
