Deschâtelets was also taking cocaine but this did not alter the fact that she genuinely risked losing her home over her financial problems, the coroner wrote.

“Given the circumstances, it is highly likely that Ms. Deschâtelets felt trapped” and ended her life “because of her belief that she would lose the house anyway. It was only a matter of time.”

The situation is “even more sad” because CRA had advisers on site who dealt with Phoenix issues, and could meet with employees, Boulay wrote.

“The federal government does a lot of promotion of workplace wellness. Surprisingly, these wellness measures are silent on the subject of financial insecurity at work,” Boulay wrote.

CRA provided this newspaper with a statement Thursday evening writing:

“We are deeply saddened by the death of any valued member of our community and we again wish to offer our sincere condolences to Ms. Deschâtelets’s family and loved ones.

We are carefully reviewing the coroner’s investigation report, and the recommendations made in it, and we will review our processes and approach accordingly.

The CRA cannot provide more comments on this topic at this time”

The National Standard of Canada on Psychological Safety in the Workplace, developed by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, is only voluntary for the federal government. Boulay wrote that following it “would allow for serious reflection on how to do human resources and compensation services in the federal government.

The national president of PSAC said Thursday the case illustrates the mental toll of Phoenix, where there is still a backlog of 228,000 instances of pay errors.

“We fully agree with what this coroner is recommending, in making it mandatory for the federal departments to follow the Canadian standard for psychological safety in the workplace,” Chris Aylward said.

“It’s a terrible tragedy. We know. We did a cross-country tour… and we heard from our members right across the country, saying they are at the breaking point,” not only being paid the wrong amounts, but not knowing in advance what the next paycheque will be.

“We did a survey of our membership … and 76 per cent of our members said the Phoenix fiasco has affected their mental health.”

“It highlights unfortunately the stress and the mental fatigue that our members have gone through and continue to go through because of Phoenix.”