By Justin Brake, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Independent
November 26, 2025
The provincial government says Deloitte is standing by its “conclusions and findings” in the Health Human Resources Plan report which The Independent found to contain citations that don’t exist.
In an email Saturday afternoon, Department of Health and Community Services Director of Communications Brian Scott said the department has “directed Deloitte to confirm the accuracy of the citations and literature review,” and that the global consulting firm “has since acknowledged the four citations noted are incorrect.”
As previously reported by The Independent, Deloitte used the four fabricated citations to support claims related to recruitment strategies, virtual care, monetary recruitment and retention incentives, and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers.
“Deloitte has committed to expeditiously conducting a full of review of all the citations and will be required to report back to government with its findings,” Scott said. “We look forward to them completing their review so we can assess how serious an issue this is and take the appropriate steps.”
NAPE President Jerry Earle took to social media Saturday to say the Deloitte report revelations serve “as a cautionary note on potential consequences” of using artificial intelligence.
“NAPE has significant concerns about the planned integration of artificial intelligence in our healthcare system,” he said, adding the union was “contacted by a [Department of Health and Community Services] official to ensure the latest occurrence does not impact the overall Human Resources Plan completed by Deloitte, while also stating a comprehensive review is being conducted.”
Earle said that “despite assurances, if public funds are being allocated to private companies, we should expect higher standards. If a human employee made this error, it would likely result in disciplinary action. This is unacceptable and warrants immediate attention.”
This is the second time in under three months that non-existent academic articles have been found in major government-commissioned reports. In September, CBC/Radio-Canada reported that the province’s Education Accord, led by a team of researchers from Memorial University, also contained citations which appeared to have been generated using artificial intelligence technology.
That report cost the province more than $755,000. The Deloitte report, which was developed to help guide the government toward stabilizing human resources in the health sector, came at a cost of $1.6 million.
Last month Deloitte’s firm in Australia was found to have used generative AI in the production of a report for the Australian government. The story made international headlines and the company agreed to reimburse the government a portion of the fee.
Deloitte did not respond to The Independent’s questions by the time of publication.
In October Premier-designate Tony Wakeham told the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers’ Association it was “embarrassing to the Liberal government that the Education Accord contains errors,” and that “when a report that is supposed to guide the future of education includes mistakes, it creates doubt among readers and undermines its credibility.”
The Independent asked the premier and the Department of Health and Community Services if the government will be requesting a refund from Deloitte in light of the errors, and if it will consider developing a policy around the use of AI in reports it commissions from third parties. They did not answer the questions.
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The premier has also not yet publicly addressed the scandal.
